Performing History

Performing History: How to Research, Write, Act, and Coach Historical Performance addresses those areas that are of greatest challenge to novice historical performers. Historical performers must approach the process that is their work with a respect for both subject matter (the people who made the decisions that lead to what we call history) and for audiences, whatever the knowledge level they bring to the subject. That respect requires careful, on­ going research (to wear the mantle of authority), while also recognizing that none of us will ever know everything there is to know (the mantle is lined with humility). It requires the crafting of stories that will interest targeted audiences, and the skill to tell those stories in a compelling manner.

Performing History is crafted for people who want to develop a first person narrative, those who have created a first person narrative but want to make it better, and those who want to help others develop first person narratives--museum and historic site volunteer coordinators, program and education curators, and, of course, those who wear many hats in small staffs. It is also for teachers, parents, and partners who are providing support for historical performers.

Ann E. Birney is managing partner of Ride into History and volunteer executive director of Ride into History Cultural and Educational Project, Inc. She joined the troupe in 1992, creating a composite teacher-turned suffrage-lecturer and a year later began work on her signature performance as Amelia Earhart. She researches, writes, and performs her first person narratives, which also include Rachel Carson and Julia Archibald Holmes. She has conducted, with Dr. Thierer, fifty-five one-week historical performance camps in addition to over one hundred workshops and conference sessions.

Joyce M. Thierer is the author of Telling History: A Manual for Performers and Presenters of First Person Narratives. She toured as the "stand-up historian" (MC) with the Kansas Chautauqua for two summers, was on the Kansas Humanities Council's History Alive! roster since its beginning in 1992 and on the Oklahoma and Nebraska humanities council rosters, all as Calamity Jane. She is the founding partner of Ride into History, a historical performance touring troupe. Providing entertainment as well as the sound scholarship required of humanities councils, Ride into History was juried onto the Kansas Arts Commission's touring program and Mid-America Arts Alliance theatre rosters.