'Conversations with a Tramp' brings animal lover John Muir to life

NATURAL BEAUTY—Lee Stetson, in character as John Muir, shows off the view at a Yosemite overlook. Stetson will perform his show "Conversations with a Tramp" at the Topanga Community House at 7 p.m. Sat., Sept. 6. Tickets are $15 for adults and $8 for children and are available at www.natureofwildworks.org.

Back in 1988, when I was still working as an animal keeper at the Los Angeles Zoo, I passed one day by the bulletin board in the administration office and a flier caught my eye. It said "John Muir comes to John Muir High School in Pasadena." At the zoo, my job was working with wild animals and doing theater presentations about nature, and as a child I spent every summer vacationing with my family in Yosemite National Park.

So I read on. "Lee Stetson, who portrays John Muir in Yosemite Valley to the park's visitors, will be presenting 'Conversations with a Tramp.' Sponsored by the Sierra Club, this performance is open to the public. April 23, 1988—7 p.m." When I arrived they had sold out to a 400-person audience, but I was able to bribe the fellow at the door with a zoo pass for his family.

That was more than 20 years ago, and that was the first time I saw Lee Stetson. Even from my seat in the way back I was so moved by Lee's performance that I began writing to him in Yosemite, singing his praises and telling him all about the animals in my care at the zoo. Muir, who referred to animals as "our fellow mortals" had a presence in Lee's return letters, and I felt as if I had John Muir as a pen pal.

We became friends, and Lee and his wife Connie came to visit me at the zoo, enjoying a closeup experience with the animals. Lee says they will never forget "putting an ear to the chest of a purring mountain lion." In 1993, the wild animals that I cared for at the zoo had to be relocated. That's when I moved them to Topanga and formed the nonprofit organization "The Nature of Wildworks," which now provides lifetime care for nonreleasable wildlife, including 19-year-old Phoenix, that very same "purring mountain lion." In the early 1990s, Lee brought John Muir to the L.A. Zoo for our first Wildworks benefit. I've returned to Yosemite almost every summer since, looking forward to the chance to see Muir come to life one more time.

The Nature of Wildworks has invited Lee Stetson to Topanga to present "Conversations with a Tramp." The event will be held at 7 p.m. Sat., Sept. 6 at the Topanga Community House.

This stirring oneperson production has been seen every summer in Yosemite National Park, and throughout the country and around the world as well, since 1983. It's based on the life of the naturalist John Muir, and Stetson's presentation is a fine introduction to both Muir the man and his profound love of wildness, his "plant people" and his "fellow mortals," the animals.

It depicts Muir's last dramatic battle to preserve the beautiful Hetch Hetchy Valley, part of Yosemite National Park, which is being threatened by San Francisco's desire to construct a dam there, ultimately drowning the valley in hundreds of feet of water. As audience members, you will be his guests as he awaits the final word on Hetch Hetchy's fate from Washington decision-makers.

John Muir fought many battles in his lifetime to save Yosemite's wilderness, battles similar to the ones we're fighting today in efforts such as the campaign to save Topanga State Park. Like Muir said, "Everything's hitched to everything else."

Tickets are $15 for adults and $8 for children and are available at www.natureofwildworks.org, or by mail: P.O. Box 109, Topanga, CA 90290, or at the door the night of the event.

The evening will include music by Mike Martsolf and me, as well as a close look at "our fellow mortals," the Wildworks critters.

Mollie Hogan is the director of Nature of Wildworks. Call (310) 4550550 for additional information. And for more information about Lee Stetson, visit www.johnmuirlive.com.