Narnia Fans » Michigan

The Petoskey area is gearing up for the fifth annual month-long festival on the life and works of the man who created Narnia, C. S. Lewis.

Beginning with the kickoff weekend October 26-28, community groups and guest scholars will explore the theme of The Question of God in accessible and dramatic style, delving into issues that preoccupy all thinking people today: What is happiness? How do we find meaning and purpose in our lives?

The Question of God illustrates the lives and insights of Sigmund Freud, a life-long critic of religious belief, and C.S. Lewis, a celebrated Oxford don, literary critic and perhaps this century’s most influential and popular proponent of faith based on reason.

Wheaton College scholar, Jerry Root, Ph.D., will deliver The Question of God keynote address on Friday, October 26 at 7:30 p.m. at North Central Michigan College. Dr. Root will seek to compare supernaturalism versus materialism, essential components that separated the worldviews of Lewis and Freud.

The weekend also features a daylong seminar Saturday, October 27 entitled “C.S. Lewis and The Problem of Pain,” at North Central Michigan College. Geared toward students, life-long learners, educators, and administrators, the seminar features scholars Christopher Mitchell, Ph.D., of The Wade Center at Wheaton College, IL, and Dr. Root, exploring Lewis’ experiences as expressed in A Grief Observed, and its relationship to his earlier views on suffering. Full-day registrations are $40, including lunch; half-day registrations are also available. Participants are encouraged to sign up early by registering online at
www.cslewisfestival.org or by calling (231) 347-5550.

On a lighter note, Three Streams Theatre will stage Narnia, the Musical at 7:30pm on Friday, October 26 and Saturday, October 27, and on Sunday, October 28 at 2pm at Harbor Light Christian School, 8333 Clayton Road, Harbor Springs. Tickets are $5/children and $25/family, available at the door.

The public is invited to a reception at Gaslight Gallery located on Howard Street in downtown Petoskey, featuring the work of artist, Michael Morris. He will be on hand to talk about his unique take on Lewis’ Narnia series. This event is free and open to all and refreshments will be served.

To wrap up the opening weekend, Lewis Festival advisor and Wade Center Director Dr. Christopher Mitchell will give the morning message at the First Presbyterian Church of Harbor Springs on Sunday, October 28 at 10 a.m. The church is located at 7940 Cemetery Road in Harbor Springs. For information, call (231) 526-7332

Dr. Jerry Root, will give the morning message at Petoskey United Methodist Church on Sunday, October 29 at both the 8:45 and 11 a.m. services. The church is located at 1804 E. Mitchell in Petoskey. For information, call (231) 347-2733.

Other C. S. Lewis-related events throughout the month of November include theatre performances, community arts and library programs, school reading events, discussion groups, and the special five-year anniversary gala celebration featuring an English Dinner at Stafford’s Perry Hotel and an Evening with C.S. Lewis with acclaimed English actor, David Payne. Many events are free and open to the public, while others require pre-registration or tickets. For more information, visit www.cslewisfestival.org or call (231) 347-5550.

PRESS RELEASE: The Petoskey area is gearing up for its fourth annual month-long festival honoring the life and works of author C.S. Lewis.

Activities begin with the kickoff weekend Oct. 26-29, when community groups and guest scholars will explore “Myth, Imagination and Faith: A Spiritual Journey Through Literature.” That is the title of a forthcoming documentary on authors Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. The film is co-produced by Petoskey filmmaker David Crouse and award-winning director Chip Duncan of Milwaukee, co-creators of the 2002 PBS documentary, “The Magic Never Ends: The Life and Work of C. S. Lewis.”

“Myth” features interviews with an international cast of scholars including Reza Aslan of Santa Barbara, Calif., author and scholar of comparative religions; and Dr. Christopher Mitchell, director of the Wade Center at Wheaton College. Both will take part in a screening of rough edits and a panel discussion with the film’s co-producers on Friday evening, Oct. 27, at North Central Michigan College in Petoskey.

The kick-off weekend also will feature a day-long seminar Oct. 28 entitled “Windows to Other Worlds: C. S. Lewis on Imagination and Literature,” also at North Central Michigan College.

Designed for educators, administrators, students and lifelong learners, the seminar features scholars Peter Schakel of Hope College and Leland Ryken of Wheaton College. Half-day registrations are available.

Other Lewis-related events throughout November include musical performances, community arts and library programs, school reading events, discussion groups and the annual children’s performance of “Narnia: The Musical” Nov. 3-5.

Some events are free and open to the public, while others require registration or tickets.

For more information, visit www.cslewisfestival.org or call 347-5550.

Among the millions of people around the world awaiting the big-screen debut of the magical realm of Narnia this week are a local man and woman who helped shape the sprawling fantasy world that opens up in “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.”

Sharon Bordine Frisco of Rochester, 62, whose short films helped to preserve the legacy of author C.S. Lewis, plans to continue work today on a new documentary. She’s attending and shooting the hoopla at London’s Royal Albert Hall, where a black-tie premiere of “The Lion” will be held.

Back in Michigan, Washtenaw Community College computer instructor Laurence Krieg, 60, whose letters to Lewis in the 1950s shaped the contemporary understanding of the Narnia novels, will skip the U.S. opening of the film on Friday. Instead, he’ll see it Saturday with members of Christ the King Catholic Church in Ann Arbor, one of many local churches that are buying blocks of tickets.

“Lewis taught a whole generation of us to baptize our imaginations,” Frisco said last week, before flying to London with her film crew. “And he showed us the way in this fantasy world he created.”

A fantastic world it is, rivaling the popular Harry Potter and “Star Wars” series — certainly in staying power. Half a century after Lewis’ death, sales of his books rise each year. Praise ranges from Time magazine, which recently called “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” one of the 20th Century’s top novels, to PBS, which last year called Lewis “the most popular spokesman for Christianity in the English-speaking world.”

But, like the Narnia novels themselves, neither Frisco’s nor Krieg’s remarkable stories properly begin in the here and now.

No, their shared passion for Narnia begins, as it has for millions of people in the 35 countries where the movie will open, with children snuggling beside their parents and opening a mysterious book, once upon a time.

[Read the rest at Freep.com]