About Ben Kemper
Born into a family of storytellers, Ben took to the art at an early age. His own performances began by age 9. By age 16, Ben had won the Grand Torchbearer Award at the National Youth Storytelling Showcase and been a featured youth teller at the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough Tennessee.
"I was immediately transformed back to the days when I actually DID walk to school. I rolled in the floor with laughter with your subtle humor, while chill bumps popped out on my whole body.”
Flora Joy, Professor Emeritus in Storytelling, East Tennessee State University
Ben’s natural spell-binding talent has since been honed through a second decade of storytelling, with special studies under master tellers and a theatre degree from Northwestern University. Since his 2015 graduation, Ben has balanced his acting and playwriting career with storytelling engagements to audiences of all ages, types and sizes.
Ben has studied under many of America’s best tellers: Jay O’Callahan, Donald Davis, Carmen Deedy, Kim Weitkamp, Ed Stivender, Willy Claflin, and Bill and Dave Mettler.
“Each movement, each sound, and each sentence was fascinating... When he threw his head back and laughed so wildly I thought the ceiling might wrinkle.”
Jay O’Callahan, Storyteller
“Ben has the gift of dangerous wonder as in approaching a story and its characters without any fear, wholly embracing them and reflecting them to the audience in their purest form.”
Kim Weitkamp, Humorist and Storyteller
“I have seen Ben take charge of the stage many times and he never fails to charm his audiences, young and old”.
Joy Steiner, Storyteller
Ben delights audiences through stories of all kinds:
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Folktales from every culture--recreated with Ben’s special sauce
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Fairytales for both young and old
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Well-researched (and embellished) historical tales.
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Holiday stories that could put Ebenezer Scrooge into a festive mood
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Personal stories that pull at heart strings and help you to see inside yourself
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Spooky stories, to send shivers down your spine.
Each set is uniquely matched to the needs and interests of his audience.
Ben’s stories not only engage, entrance and entertain, his telling also promotes the storyteller within, leaving people wanting to tell on their own.
“There is a storyteller inside each of us whose unique voice can tell a good
story on just about anything that happens in our lives.”
Ben Kemper
