Chautauqua Presentations

Invite our most beloved Founding Father to your next Chautauqua gathering! Chris’s Benjamin Franklin will provide background and personal anecdotes on those traits that made him "healthy, wealthy, and wise." Hear Ben tell "how it was" to be engaged in the dangerous but thrilling days of our country’s first steps towards independence. Chris uses his extensive experience as actor/director, teacher, and scholar to bring Ben Franklin alive in an engaging, witty and accessible way. Ben’s life is an inspiration to young and old alike, and Chris’s Chautauqua performance as Ben emphasizes values still relevant today: life-long learning, tolerance, reverence for liberty and human rights, devotion to one’s community and country, and living usefully and virtuously.

What is Chautauqua?
The scholar/performer who practices the humanities-based method of first person interpretation we call "Chautauqua" uses the following, standardized format:

• First, s/he delivers a dramatic monologue in character and costume, emphasizing the historical character’s contributions to civilization.
• Second, s/he takes audience questions in character. Members of the audience are invited to ask any question they please of the historical character. The performer answers in the manner of the character, quoting where possible and paraphrasing where necessary.
• Finally, the scholar/performer breaks character, and comments about the character’s place in history. Then s/he takes further questions from the audience, no longer as the character, but as the performer. This permits the scholar/performer to provide observation and further analysis from a modern point of view.

Although there are many one-man, one-woman shows and historical entertainments and reenactments throughout our country, programs are only considered true Chautauqua performances if the three criteria above are met and theatricality is balanced by solid emphasis on history and ideas. All modern Chautauqua performers owe much to the founder of the modern Chautauqua movement, Dr. Clay Jenkinson, whose own portrayal of Thomas Jefferson has become a standard of excellence.

See what others around the country have said by clicking on "Testimonials". To reserve a date on Chris’s calendar for a visit as Ben, contact Chris.