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Programs offered by KAPHP members
Ride into History
...calls what they do “sneaky history.” Others have called their performances “entertaining and intelligent” and “the most popular part of the event,” and said, “I don’t remember when I’ve had so much fun—and I’ve learned, too!” Ride has delighted audiences of all ages, in settings as varied as conferences and schools.
"You live up to all your glowing recommendations."
Ann Birney brought Amelia Earhart to the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in its first-ever dramatic performance. And Joyce Thierer as Calamity Jane has fascinated audiences from chautauqua attendees to four year olds since 1990. Both are ideal programs for conferences and annual meetings. Performances are generally followed by...
SME - Portals of Time
...is the dynamic team of Belinda and Mike Adams. Gymnasium, stage, or outdoor setting—educational and entertaining assemblies and programs for all occasions and all ages—programs are designed to fit your site.
"The students were delighted"
-Brandon, WI
"Excellent program! History came alive..."
-Belleville, IL
"[H]eld students’ attention very well. Even the small children were enthralled"
—Longford, KS
The Buffalo Hunters, 1860s -1870s. How one family made their mark on Kansas! Join Jedidiah and Sarah Star and their two teenage daughters as they...
Nan's Covered Wagon
...pulls into your community and amazes children and adults alike with its authenticity. Typical of wagons used to cross the continentin the mid 19th century, Nan’s wagon was built in Wisconsin over 100 years ago. It is fully equipped with bows and cover, tent fly, tar bucket, wagonjack and odometer. Visitors typically will find Nan sewing, cooking a stew, or baking biscuits.
Yvonne Larson has traveled over five hundred miles of the Oregon Trail with her wagon and studied the diaries of emigrants. As Nan she enjoys telling their stories. She fits in well with social studies units from 1820 to 1890, including...
History's Spirit
...takes you back to the Old West, to the days of the Texas Cattle Drives, with Greg Heller’s historical interpretation of Texas Drover and Lawman of the Old West Capt. William T. Allen.
Captain Allen is a composite figure developed from Greg’s research of the various 19th century cattle trails to the railheads of Kansas. Greg’s research of 19th century cowboys' clothing and equipment bring...
Birdwoman: Gene Stratton-Porter
Cynthia Ross performs a first person characterization of author/naturalist Gene Stratton-Porter. Stratton-Porter wrote much-loved books including Freckles, Girl of the Limberlost, and The Harvester. She studied and photographed birds and moths in the Limberlost Swamp in the early 1900s.
Props include an antique...
Sod-Bustin' Kansas History
Agricultural historian Nolan Sump carries his love for the history of farming onto the stage with stories told by two first-person personae. Humor balances hardship in these tales based on real stories.
J.W. Rauschenberg is an 1880 German immigrant farmer. He discusses growing up in Germany, coming to America, and the adventures of life in the 1870s and 1880s.
Hank Emerson is a 1930s Dust Bowl farmer in Morton...
Olympia Brown
Colleen Riley brings to communities and church groups an entertaining and informative interpretation of one of the earliest ordained women, Reverend Olympia Brown. Universalist pastor Brown toured Kansas in 1867 to drum up support for the vote for women. Riley's interpretation includes descriptions of Kansas settlements and politics. Clad in apparel appropriate for riding sidesaddle, and on horseback when the location permits, Olympia takes the stage with enthusiasm, wit, and fiery character. Following the performance, she will...
Gladys the Riveter: World War II Home Front Heroine
Teresa Bachman’s aunts worked at the Boeing airplane plant in Wichita during World War II. Her interpretationn of the mythic Rosie the Riveter is based on their stories and a study of the realities of factory work and the World War II home front in general. Gladys, by treating the audience as “new hires,” helps us understand the challenges (large gloves, overly friendly supervisors, exhaustion, child care) and pleasures (great pay, after-work recreation, helping in the war effort) of doing “men’s work” in the 1940s.
"A timely topic interpreted with humor, poignancy, and intelligence."
Teresa Bachman is...
Clyde V. Cessna, Pioneer Pilot
The name Cessna has long been associated with the manufacture of airplanes in Wichita, Kansas, the Air Capital of the World. From humble beginnings in Kingman County, Kansas near the small town of Adams, came Clyde Cessna, an automobile dealer with a dream to fly his own plane. Not just any airplane, but a revolutionary monoplane, one with a full cantilever wing (a single wing without struts or braces), unheard of at that time.
Eight years after the Wright brothers' successful flight he became one of the first west of the Mississippi to fly. Following crack-ups, frustrations, and near financial ruin the pioneer was at last airborne.
Gary Krehbiel tells in vivid detail...
Louise Thaden, Beech Pilot
Louise Thaden's record-setting flights, often besting those of her friend Amelia Earhart, introduced the Travel Air 4000 and Beechcraft Staggerwing to the awestruck public. And who could better portray record-setting pilot Louise Thaden than Bonnie Johnson, cross country race pilot(she has a 1946 Luscombe8A), aerospace test engineer, math teacher, and Merkel Airplane Co. Operations Manager?
Performer Bonnie Johnson takes the audience back to 1958, when Louise has just received her first jet ride with son Bill. The winner of the 1929 "Powder Puff" Derby and 1936 Bendix cross country race talks about how...
Crooked Creek Regulators
Buffalo Hunter Billy Dixon was either in the right place at the right time, or the right place at the wrong time. An excellent shot, by 1870 he had already won fame as a hunter and scout, but he is now remembered for what happened at the Battle of Adobe Walls in the panhandle of Texas in 1874, where a small trading community of twenty-nine held off seven hundred Plains Indian warriors.
Dodge City's own Assistant Marshall Marc Ferguson offers Billy's stories and those of the better known Doc Holliday...
Deborah Samson, Soldier of the American Revolution
...is portrayed by Anna Smith. Samson was one of the first American women known to have impersonated a man to enlist in the army and take part in combat. She was also the first to receive a pension. Samson was descended from Plymouth Colony Governor William Bradford, the famous Captain Myles Standish, and Captain Simeon Samson, who distinguished himself in the French and Indian Wars. Stories of these brave men influenced her scheme to disguise herself as a man to fight with General George Washington's Continental Army against England for American Independence.
Anna Smith joined the Kansas Army National Guard when...
Sarah Kemble Knight
In October of 1704 Sarah Kemble Knight began a four-month business trip by herself on horseback from Boston to New York and back, the first recorded female business trip in the American colonies. Her journal, a precursor to travel journals of pioneer women, describes with great humor her adventures along the way.
Dr. Janet Burnett Huchingson, author With No Little Regrett, a novel based on Knight’s journal, has brought Knight’s experiences to life...
Home | Programs | What to expect | About | Workshops | Contact KAPHP | Glossary | Links
This site was created in 2003 by the Kansas Alliance of Professional Historic Performers and Ride into History Cultural and Educational Project, Inc. with an Attraction Development Grant from the Kansas Department of Commerce and Housing Travel & Tourism Development Division
Original site concept and development by Danny C. Boyce Computer and Network Support and Consulting, Emporia Kansas
Significant revision by G R Dobbs 6/6/2007
retaining much of the original design concept
