Art Ryan looped two wooden hoops over his shoulder and set off on the four-block walk from the Free Quaker Meeting House to Christ Church in Old City.
It was Flag Day and the first day that Historic Philadelphia was running programs on the Tuesday-through-Saturday schedule, instead of the weekends-only programming that started on Memorial Day. Ryan has served as a program director with the organization since 2012. Before that, he portrayed an 18th-century tinker and worked as a storyteller.
At the church, Ryan paused in the shade of a tree to watch Courtney Mitchell, a storyteller with Historic Philadelphia. She spoke animatedly to a family, having one daughter pretend to be Katharine Drexel, a philanthropist born in Philadelphia in 1858, while another pretended to be her suitor. Mitchell whispered lines for each child to say and explained the history.
“If you’re from Philadelphia, you might know Katharine’s story, but if you’re from the middle of the country, it’s new and exciting,” Ryan said. “You see how much these kids so thoroughly enjoy what they’re doing.”
In the alleyway behind the church, Ryan delivered the hoops, part of an 18th-century game, to Keith Henley. A Camden, N.J., resident, Henley has portrayed Henry “Box” Brown for 11 years. Brown is famous for mailing himself to freedom in Philadelphia from Richmond, Va. He spent 27 hours in a wooden box that was said to be 3-feet long, 2-and-a-half-feet deep and 2-feet wide.
“A lot of our stories are about empowering people,” Ryan said. “We’re always looking for these stories that most people have not heard of … What I love about this job is it’s not just the history, but being surrounded by great performers.”
Ryan said he came to Historic Philadelphia as an actor, but he’s found the time of the American Revolution fascinating since childhood because he grew up in Drexel Hill.
“It was luck that the king [of England] owed William Penn’s father so much money that to get rid of that problem he gave up a tract of land in the New World and got rid of the Quakers at the same time,” he said. “It’s just such a compelling story.”
Ryan and his partner of 17 years, Brian Kerr, share a love of history. Kerr is a musicologist. Ryan said their two-bedroom apartment in Drexel Hill is filled with thousands of 45-rpm records and sheet music.
During the summer, Ryan doesn’t get much down time with his partner.
“It’s Flag Day, Independence Day, Memorial Day and Labor Day every day here,” Bill Robling, who has portrayed Ben Franklin for 15 years, joked of the intensity of Historic Philadelphia’s high season.
Robling added Ryan is an “absolute sweetheart” to work with.
“He understands what we do because he’s done it,” Robling said. “He’s the most supportive person advocating for our work.”
Ryan oversees 40 storytellers and historical interpreters throughout Independence National Historical Park in the city and Valley Forge National Historical Park in Montgomery and Chester counties.
“It can be a bear schedule-wise,” Ryan said. “When people ask me what I do, I say schedule, schedule, schedule.”
He often begins his days by meeting with nearly two-dozen storytellers and historical interpreters. Flag Day started with trivia questions from Mark Cairns, summer supervisor with Historic Philadelphia. Team members learned that, when a new state is added to the union, a star is added to the flag the following year on Independence Day, and that six American flags are planted on the moon.
As the day wore on, Ryan checked the inventory of the props for each of the 13 benches where historical interpreters perform. In 2008, funding concerns led to a bench reduction. For the last three years, Historic Philadelphia operated 10 benches. But a grant from the Lenfest Match-Heritage Tourism Project brought the bench total back to 13. Ryan said Historic Philadelphia received $150,000 for programming this year and has another $150,000 earmarked for next year.
“What I’ve tried to do is spread the programming throughout the district,” Ryan said. “What people wanted to see was more storytelling. You’re now encountering history-makers just about everywhere [in Old City].”
Ryan ran into Sandy Mackenzie Lloyd on his walk around the neighborhood on Flag Day. A historian who writes the scripts for Historic Philadelphia storytellers, Mackenzie Lloyd described a strong partnership with Ryan.
They debuted a new story this year of Deborah Sampson, who presented as a man in order to join the Continental Army. When a doctor found out she was a woman, Sampson still received an honorable discharge and a pension. The story brings to mind the stark contrast for gay and lesbian Americans serving in the military during “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” which was repealed in 2010. The law used to require openly gay servicemembers to receive less-than-honorable discharges.
“I have the most-fun job around and I get to work with the most-fun person around,” Mackenzie Lloyd said of Ryan.
For more information on Historic Philadelphia, visit www.historicphiladelphia.org.
