Mark Twain News

Uptown Knauer Performing Arts Center presents the gift of theatre and celebrates a major new beginning. The West Chester performing arts organization kicks off its new regional theatre program with a smart, original and heartfelt retelling of the greatest story ever told.

The Town Hall has announced that stage and screen star Nathan Lane will moderate a special evening with Hollywood icon Steve Martin and artist Harry Bliss, as they reflect on their new book Number One Is Walking - My Life In the Movies and Other Diversions (Celadon Books). The live evening will take place on November 15 at 8pm at The Town Hall.

Director Unger and her team have done a wonderful job working with the cast to ensure that they delivered their lines clearly and loudly while embodying their characters. It is a delight to watch them bring A York Yankee in King Arthur’s Court: A Modern Take on a Classic to life. This is a show for audiences of all ages!

The 2023 Mercury Theater Chicago season has been announced, opening with Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill, written by Lanie Robertson and starring Alexis J. Roston as Billie Holiday, to be performed in the Venus Cabaret Theater.

Ghostlight Players will present “The Apple Tree,” a musical from the creators of “Fiddler on the Roof” and “She Loves Me,” from October 13 - 16 at Hemsley Hall. “The Apple Tree” features a book and score by Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick, with additional material by Jerome Coopersmith.

BIG RIVER: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn comes to the Lyric Theatre in 2023. Performances run February 16, 2023 – March 11, 2023.

Chanhassen Dinner Theatres (CDT) teams up in a poignant theatre collaboration with beloved and celebrated Twin Cities icons, Nancy Nelson & Don Shelby, as they star in LOVE LETTERS at Chanhassen Dinner Theatres for a limited four performance engagement in November.

Berkeley Repertory Theatre’s Artistic Director Johanna Pfaelzer and Director of the Ground Floor Madeleine Oldham announced the Residency Lab participants and the return to full capacity of the Residency Lab portion of The Ground Floor: Berkeley Rep’s Center for the Creation and Development of New Work.

The trailer highlights moments from the upcoming season, including Stewart taking on anti-transgender legislation, questioning the American tax proposition and confronting economic globalization, with special appearances from LeVar Burton and Susan Sarandon. Watch the new video trailer now!

The Resident Acting Company, formed four years ago by the actors of the Obie Award winning Pearl Theater Company, has announced casting for a script in hand performance of José Rivera’s Sonnets For An Old Century on October 17th at The Players. 

The opera El último sueño de Frida y Diego (The Last Dream of Frida and Diego) premieres in October at the San Diego Civic Center. I spoke with the work's composer Gabriela Lena Frank for more than an hour via Zoom while she was in Booneville, the rural area North of San Francisco where she lives. Although the opera is her first, her orchestral music has been performed by an impressive number of major orchestras including those of Cleveland, Philadelphia and Boston. And despite the challenge of a serious hearing deficiency from birth, she's produced music the New York Times described as 'brilliantly effective,' while the Los Angeles Times chimed in with 'glorious.'

According to an interview with The Age, Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schoenberg are currently revising Martin Guerre for a potential London run in 2024. Paul Hodge, who wrote Clinton: The Musical, is helping with the rewrite. Original producer Cameron Mackintosh has returned the rights to the creators and will not be involved. 

The Resident Acting Company, formed four years ago by the actors of the Pearl Theater Company, has announced casting for a script in hand performance of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream on September 19th at The Players. 

Pearwater Productions announced the 3rd Annual Hartford Fringe Festival to be held October 20 through 30, 2022. After producing a virtual festival in 2020 and taking 2021 off, Hartford Fringe Festival returns to the Carriage House Theatre, 360 Farmington Avenue in Hartford, Connecticut with a ten-day event consisting of 38 performances of 23 unique productions.

The Mark Twain House & Museum has announced the Short List of titles for The 2022 Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award! The Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award honors an exemplary work of fiction from the previous calendar year that speaks with an “American Voice” about American experiences, much like Twain’s masterwork, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. 

BrightSide Theatre Artistic Director Jeffrey Cass and Executive Director Julie Ann Kornak have announced that they will begin their 10th season with She Loves Me, running from October 14 through 30th. 

Acclaimed host, writer, producer, director and advocate Jon Stewart, recipient of the 2022 Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, leads with compassion and humor as he takes a deep dive into some of the most important issues of our time. Using comedy and common sense, the series will feature tough, topical and culture-moving conversations.

The Resident Acting Company, formed four years ago by the actors of the Pearl Theater Company, recently announced their fall lineup for 2022. 

Playwrights Horizons has announced its most recent slate of commissioned artists, providing crucial support to today’s most imaginative writers, and to the realization of works that will shape the future of the American theater.

Tennessee Shakespeare Company launches its 15th performance season in celebratory style with Pete Pranica returning to the stage to delight audiences in the premiere of The Trouble Begins at Eight: Mark Twain.  The production is generously sponsored by The Sims Family Charitable Trust.