{"id":119794,"date":"2026-02-21T10:46:06","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T10:46:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/119794\/"},"modified":"2026-02-21T10:46:06","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T10:46:06","slug":"historic-philadelphia-adding-10-new-performers-for-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/119794\/","title":{"rendered":"Historic Philadelphia adding 10 new performers for 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>From Philly and the Pa. suburbs to South Jersey and Delaware, what would you like WHYY News to cover? <a href=\"#Section1\">Let us know!<\/a>\n<\/p>\n<p>This summer, expect more huzzahs as folks dressed in chitterlings go boguing around Old City.\n<\/p>\n<p>Anticipating increased interest in the nation\u2019s 250th birthday, Historic Philadelphia Inc. is adding more 10 performers, including costumed characters portraying Revolutionary War heroes such as James Forten, David Rittenhouse and Julia Stockton Rush. Keeping with tradition, there will also be plainclothed storytellers stationed at the designated \u201cOnce Upon a Nation\u201d outdoor benches.\n<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur <a href=\"https:\/\/historicphiladelphia.org\/stories\/who-are-the-history-makers\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">History Makers<\/a> don\u2019t break character,\u201d said Amy Needle, president and CEO of the organization, which stations costumed historic characters out on the cobbled stone streets.\n  <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you want to take a selfie with one of our History Makers, they may say, \u2018Oh! A portrait!\u2019 and will pose with you,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen someone asks a History Maker a question, like, \u2018Where\u2019s the best cheesesteak?\u2019, they might, in a fun way, be able to direct you.\u201d<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-732361\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/2026-02-19-p-crimmins-johanna-dunphy-philadelphia-free-quaker-meetinghouse-historic-philadelphia-act.jpeg\" alt=\"Johanna Dunphy teaching new performers\" width=\"640\" height=\"288\"  \/>Johanna Dunphy, a longtime Historic Philadelphia actor, leads new performers through miming games to get them ready for the 2026 tourism season. (Peter Crimmins\/WHYY)\n<\/p>\n<p>Needle said that they launch a casting call every year, but this year is special.\n<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe had more people audition than ever before,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019ve hired more people than in the past, certainly since the [COVID-19] pandemic.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p>The new hires will join the seasoned team of current performers. Needle said the organization has a nearly 100% retention rate. Last year, they lost just one actress, who left to play a princess at Disneyland Paris.\n<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s the only thing that\u2019s better than this,\u201d said Johanna Dunphy, a longtime performer <a href=\"https:\/\/whyy.org\/articles\/carpenters-hall-afternoon-tea-dolley-madison\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">who sometimes appears as Dolley Madison<\/a>.<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-732396\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Story2-copy-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"Johanna Dunphy, a longtime Historic Philadelphia actor, leads an introductory training session for newly hired performers at the Free Quaker Meeting building\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\"  \/>Johanna Dunphy, a longtime Historic Philadelphia actor, leads an introductory training session for newly hired performers at the Free Quaker Meeting building. (Nick Kariuki\/Billy Penn)\n<\/p>\n<p>The new hires will be schooled in the art of urban history performance. This week, they gathered at the historic Free Quaker Meeting building on Arch Street for the first session of the <a href=\"https:\/\/historicphiladelphia.org\/stories\/benstitute-the-training-behind-once-upon-a-nation\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Benstitute<\/a>, Historic Philadelphia\u2019s annual training program.\n        <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From Philly and the Pa. suburbs to South Jersey and Delaware, what would you like WHYY News to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":119795,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[69,4001,71,70,2235,9880],"class_list":["post-119794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-250","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news","tag-philadelphia250","tag-semiquincentennial"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119794"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119794\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}