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Meal, community conversation, history performance at NIC to celebrate nation’s 250th anniversary

Storyteller and author Bryan Austin will portray James Madison, the fourth President of the United States and considered the Father of the Constitution, during a performance at 6 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 25. The Longest Table: Conversations for the Next 250 will be at 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 24. Both events are free and open to the public at North Idaho College’s Coeur d’Alene campus.

North Idaho College will host two events to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence and Constitution Day that are free and open to the public at NIC’s Coeur d’Alene campus.

The Longest Table: Conversations for the Next 250, an initiative that brings communities together to share a meal, reflect on where we are today and discuss hopes for the future, is at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 24, on College Drive in front of Christianson Gymnasium. Attendees should RSVP online at bit.ly/4A690J4 as there’s room at the table for the first 250.

There will also be a James Madison performance at 6 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 25 in the Lake Coeur d’Alene Room of the Edminster Student Union Building. Storyteller and author Bryan Austin will portray Madison, the fourth president of the United States and often considered the Father of the Constitution.

The Longest Table at NIC is funded with grants from the North Idaho College Foundation and the Innovia Foundation. It is organized by the Phi Theta Kappa Delta Kappa Chapter at NIC.

“North Idaho College is excited to host these events to celebrate our shared history as a nation and to foster community dialogue and connection,” NIC President Nick Swayne said.

Austin said his presentation as Madison will be centered on the American Revolution, not as it exists on the battlefield, but rather in the committee rooms and volumes of history that shaped political thought.

“Throughout his life, Madison reconciled with the aspiration of a government ruled by the people, and the stark reality that those in government needed to be enlightened,” Austin said. “The question of his and every age is: Can those two things co-exist?”

The performance is in celebration of Constitution Day, which is on Thursday, Sept. 17, this year.

“Bryan’s historical interpretation of the primary writer of the Constitution is appropriate as we celebrate the founding of the current form of government,” said James Jewell, NIC professor and Social and Behavioral Sciences Division Chair.

Jewell serves on NIC’s America250 Committee that is planning public engagement celebrations.

“Inviting Bryan provides an excellent opportunity to think of the founding generation — not just James Madison — as living people, with personalities, not just distant historical figures in paintings, books or portrayed on money,” Jewell said.

Austin’s work has been featured in TIME Magazine and The New York Times. His career in professional theatre has spanned Shakespeare, puppetry, acrobatics, trapeze and arts education initiatives.