Burning Coal Celebrates Mark Twain, 11/30

As part of a national celebration of all things Mark Twain, Burning Coal Theater Company of Raleigh, in collaboration with Pulitzer Prize-winning author Ron Powers, will present Powers' new play Sam and Laura on November 30. This one-time staged reading in Pittman Auditorium at St. Mary's School in Raleigh begins at 7:30 p.m. Tickets - only available at the door - are $15 and $10 for students.

Produced and directed by Kristopher H. Koechling, Sam and Laura will feature Lynda Clark in the title role of Laura Wright, a woman Powers suggests was the model for Becky Thatcher and the "platonic sweetheart" Twain wrote and dreamed about most of his life.

2010 marks the 175th anniversary of Twain's birth, the 100th anniversary of his death, and the 125th anniversary of the publication of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

Sam and Laura is one of Burning Coal Theater's New Works Series. More information on Ron Powers and the Sam and Laura project can be found at www.samandlauraplay.com or by emailing Bardslinger Productions at bardslinger@yahoo.com.