Idea for the social: A Philly area guy named Kirk Brown does impersonations of John Bartram. http://johnbartramlives.me/. I've seen him. I don't know how much he charges but he "performs" for many small non-profits. Here's a description:

"Kirk R. Brown delivers a first-person, biographical and historical presentation on the life of America’s first Botanist and Horticulturist:  John Bartram.

John Bartram welcomes you with the horticultural history of America as he began it in Philadelphia and Penn’s Woods.  His story starts in 1699 and moves up to the American Revolutionary War and 1776.  He stands at the very beginning of the international world of plant discovery and identification.  He introduced more than 200 species and 100 trees to the trade. 

Close friends with Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and George Washington as well as many of the other founding fathers, Bartram is credited with starting the first public garden in America.

Kirk's personification of John Bartram is electrifying. What Hal Holbrook is to Mark Twain, Kirk Brown is to John Bartram!"