This podcast features a recording with Steven Smith, a wonderful re-enactor of Benjamin Franklin, at the 2008 Oklahoma A+ Schools Conference on August 1st. In the character of Benjamin Franklin, Steven recounts historial events of his life as an inventor, statesman, author and civic activist. If there is a more memorable and impactful way to learn about historical characters than having an animated conversation like this one with Benjamin Franklin, I’m not sure what they are! This was a lot of fun! Thanks to Steven for granting this interview and permission to share it online. Steven role plays several characters in addition to Ben Franklin including Peter Cartwright, Professor B Looney and Tupper the Clown. Visit the podcast shownotes for links to his websites. He is based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, but shares his wit, wisdom and life lessons with audiences young and old around the United States.
Show Notes:
- Blooney.com – Website of Steven Smith
- Oklahoma Arts Council website for storyteller Stephen Robert Smith: AKA Ben Franklin
- Christian Sanity Theater website for Stephen Robert Smith
- WikiPedia article for Benjamin Franklin
- Oklahoma A+ Schools
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[tags]history,benfranklin,benjaminfranklin,franklin,story,storytelling,actor,reenactor,constitution[/tags]
Note: As of 1 Oct 2026, this is a FULL STATIC COPY of all 6,390 posts shared on this blog since 2003. Updated content and ideas from Wes Fryer are still available!
Comments
2 responses to “Podcast270: A Conversation with Benjamin Franklin- Inventor, Statesman, Author and Civic Activist”
Hey, Wes
Enjoyed the Ben Franklin interview. What you may not be aware of is that another Franklin enactor is available for schools/organizations over interactive videoconferencing. One of my favorite “content providers” is Virent Broadcasting. They offer a lot of fantastic historic figures from Ben to Orville to Lincoln to Annie Oakley. Here’s their site: http://www.virent.net/ and they can also be found on CILC: http://cilc.org
Jan
I really enjoyed listening to Ben Franklin. Thanks for this!
I want to draw your (and others’) attention to one of my favorite re-enactors, who primarily portrays Thomas Jefferson, but also portrays some other characters from American History. Here’s the site: http://www.jeffersonhour.org/
Here’s a description from the site:
Nationally acclaimed humanities scholar and award winning first person interpreter of Thomas Jefferson, Clay Jenkinson, portrays Jefferson on the program, and he answers listener questions while in the persona of Jefferson–his answers are grounded in the writings and actions of the great man.