Mark Twain News

SIMI VALLEY CULTURAL ARTS CENTER has announced its lineup of spring events. See the full lineup below! 

The greatest young adventurers in American literature spring to life in this musical based on the novels of Mark Twain, Huck & Tom and the Mighty Mississippi, live on stage at The Ridgefield Playhouse on April 21st

Under a just-announced partnership to produce original works and programming for Kennedy Center audiences, Chicago comedy institution The Second City will present a new show in addition to a selection of workshops at The Kennedy Center's District of Comedy Festival.

Two-time Tony Award Winner Norbert Leo Butz is about to take the stage again this year in the Broadway Revival of My Fair Lady as Alfred P. Doolittle -- a part that won George Rose the Tony back in 1976. Butz is one of only nine actors who have won the Best Actor Tony twice (alongside stars like Nathan Lane). As he prepares to take stage yet again, let's reflect on his career: all twenty two years of it!

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts today announced a new partnership with The Second City, the famed Chicago-based sketch comedy company. The partnership draws on the respective strengths of each organization to extend the creative capacity, reach, and impact of both brands, and will result in new, original productions at the Kennedy Center and beyond.

Based in Michigan, but shooting their films in Hollywood,Antiwar Comedy Shorts has produced eight films in the last two years. The first two were submitted to festivals. Among the 11 awards won were Best Comedy, Best Social Commentary, Best Short Film, Best Animated Short, and Best Actor Under 18 (for eight-year-old Kobe Humphries). Writer/director Jonny Lewis did not submit the other six films: 'It's nice to receive awards, but it's not really about any particular film. It's about showing there is a willingness to consider the antiwar point of view, and about using comedy to open people up to serious issues.'

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts today announced a new partnership with The Second City, the famed Chicago-based sketch comedy company. The partnership draws on the respective strengths of each organization to extend the creative capacity, reach, and impact of both brands, and will result in new, original productions at the Kennedy Center and beyond.

Neglected Musicals in association with Hayes Theatre Co will present BIG RIVER at Hayes Theatre Co from Wednesday 18 April for six presentations only. Directed by Ellen Simpson, this musical is based on Mark Twain's classic 1884 novel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the musical features music in the bluegrass and country styles in keeping with the setting of the novel.

The nationally regarded Fulton Theatre is proud to present the Broadway classic Guys and Dolls, March 6 through March 31. Explore a simpler time when the stakes of the "game" were your biggest concern in Damon Runyon's streets of New York City.

As an acclaimed late-night TV show host, admired stand-up comedian, best-selling children's book author, much-in-demand corporate speaker, lovable TV and movie voiceover artist, pioneering car builder and mechanic, and philanthropist, it's no wonder why Jay Leno has always been widely characterized as "the hardest working man in show business." An indefatigable performer, this People's Choice Award recipient loves to test his humor on live audiences across the nation, and brings his "everyman" style of comedy and signature jawline to Columbus.

Edwards's world premiere adaptation of THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY, Oscar Wilde's story of a man who sells his soul for unaging beauty, transports the story from the novel's setting of Victorian-era England to 1970's New York City, during the dawning of the AIDS and crack cocaine epidemics.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, in collaboration with the Annenberg Foundation, the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, the Aspen Institute Arts Program, and Citizen University, presents the 2018 Kennedy Center Arts Summit: The Future States of America: Using the Arts to Take Us Where We Want to Go. Taking place on Monday, April 16, 2018, in the Kennedy Center Theater Lab and adjoining spaces, the annual spring convening brings thought leaders from the arts and related fields together for conversation and connection.

So many fans know Del Shores as a prolific playwright and screenwriter, and film director and producer they forget he's also a character actor...and a damn good one. Currently onstage at the Celebration Theatre at the Lex, Shores' new one-man show Six Characters in Search of a Play is hysterically funny ...and ... it's all Shores. The audience gets a chance to see just what a versatile talent he is. Shores's sense of humor is flamboyant but sincere. His first big laugh comes with saying he's a thief, as the idea for the show comes from Pirandello...at least the title. Another big chuckle emanates when he professes to be a storyteller, quoting Mark Twain, 'Never let the truth get in the way of a good story.' What better than a few delicious lies to embellish the anecdotes! After all, he from the South and Southerners are prone ... to lie.

Coming in March, The Baron's Men will be presenting the rarely performed The Curate Shakespeare AS YOU LIKE at the Curtain Theatre. This unique piece of theatre is subtitled 'the record of one company's attempt to perform the play by William Shakespeare.' The piece came about when the playwright, Don Nigro, was asked by a professional theatre company to adapt AS YOU LIKE IT for performance by a company of seven. Mr. Nigro wrote an original play about a motly company of actors, led by a daft curate, who present Shakespeare's AS YOU LIKE IT. The result is a comedy about their attempts to impersonate all of Shakespeare's characters. The play has had numerous productions nationwide and has become a cult theater classic. We recently had an opportunity to sit down with director Kate Clark for a deeper look at bringing this wholly unique piece to Austin audiences.

Magician Daniel GreenWolf presents his show, Celtic Magic: An Evening of Irish Illusion, at the Little Theatre of Manchester at Cheney Hall for one night only on March 16th, 2018 at 8:00 pm. GreenWolf combines Magic, theatrical storytelling, quick-witted comedy, and a few death-defying feats with the beauty of Irish culture to create a unique theatrical experience.

Legendary singer and 2016 Kennedy Center Honoree Mavis Staples will headline and curate a special evening for the 2018 Kennedy Center Spring Gala on Sunday, May 6, 2018, in the Concert Hall. An Evening with Mavis Staples and Special Guests will lead guests through her 60-plus year catalog of genre-defying contributions to American music-seminal works that have woven Staples into the very fabric of gospel, soul, folk pop, R&B, Hip Hop, blues, and rock. The evening will include performances by Staples and additional talent to be announced at a later date. The event is chaired by Frances and Craig Lindner.

Michael Kahn today announces Shakespeare Theatre Company's 2018-2019 Season. With two world premieres from celebrated playwrights, a multiple Tony Award-winning presentation, a dynamic adaptation of a classic novel, two Shakespeare plays and a group of acclaimed directors and artists, it is an ambitious grand finale for STC Artistic Director Michael Kahn, who will retire from the company at the end of the Season.

The spoken word and music come together in new and powerful ways when actor and comedian Bill Murray and award-winning cellist Jan Vogler team up to present Bill Murray, Jan Vogler and Friends: New Worlds, an evening of music, poetry and prose. This unique show will play at The Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts on Sunday, April 22 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are now on sale to theatre members and go on sale to the general public on Friday, February 16 at 10 a.m.

Artistic Director Mark Clements and Managing Director Chad Bauman are thrilled to announce Milwaukee Repertory Theater's 65th Anniversary Season which will be the largest season in over a decade featuring 15 productions across four venues with nearly 700 performances including expanded programming in the Stiemke Studio.

Chicago Shakespeare Theater  (CST) announces the cast and creative team for the theatrical event of the season: Macbeth, adapted and directed by Teller (of Penn & Teller) and Aaron Posner-the celebrated creative duo behind CST's The Tempest, winner of the Jeff Award for Best Production in 2015. Starring Ian Merrill Peakesas Macbeth and Chaon Cross as Lady Macbeth, Shakespeare's psychological thriller immerses audiences in a world of dark magic and ambition, delving into the twisted psyches of the ultimate power-hungry couple.