BWW Q&A: Willow Becker Talks Richard Thomas in MARK TWAIN TONIGHT! at Covey Center for the Arts

Mark Twain Tonight!, is a Tony Award-winning one-man show in which finds the noted author presenting a dramatic recitation of his various writings. Starring Richard Thomas, Broadway alumnus of Our Town and television star of The Waltons, brings this giant character to life in a stage experience full of laughs, introspection, and good old-fashioned fun.

Emmy-Award® winning Actor and 2025 Theater Hall of Fame Inductee Richard Thomas brings to life “the nation’s one true comic genius” (The New York Times) in Mark Twain Tonight!, written and originally performed by Hal Holbrook. Join the millions who have cheered for the legendary one-man show, bursting with Twain’s “uproariously funny” and “pungently wise” (Time Magazine) humor.

Most recently seen on Broadway in Our Town, on tour as Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird, and on Netflix’s Ozark, Richard Thomas will return to Broadway in Spring 2026 in David Lindsay-Abaire’s The Balusters, directed by Kenny Leon. Beloved to generations as John-Boy Walton, Richard Thomas is the first and only actor authorized to perform Mark Twain Tonight! since the original.

What is it about Mark Twain Tonight! that keeps audiences selling out performances like the one at The Covey on November 14th?

Mark Twain was not only a real person, but a very complex and fascinating and deep person. Actors are inveterate researchers, and when I’m on stage, I’m just immersed in his life’s experiences. When you go on the stage, you feel that you’re performing more than just words on the page. And it’s not just his words—he put his personality on those pages. He himself is embedded in every story, joke, and word.

It's so great to see this show with a fresh, new face. What does it feel walking in Hal Holbrook's revered shoes and doing this show for the first time in 40 years with a brand-new Mark Twain?

Hal spent 50 years accumulating and mixing and matching and curating all these things that Twain said and wrote and turned it into a program. It’s not a scripted play. It’s a version of what Twain did around the world, which is really entertainment hung on a framework of lecturing on a subject. And he put together a wonderful, funny, thought-provoking 90 minutes of time.

How did this transition take place? How did it come to be that you were entrusted with this great American favorite, originally performed by Hal Holbrook for over 40 years?

I hadn’t toured for most of my career, but I was invited to do the Broadway tour of 12 Angry Men in 2006. I loved the show and had never toured before, so I really jumped on the opportunity. It went so well and was a huge hit and I found that I really loved the road. Then I had a chance to do the touring production of The Human which won the Tony Award. A few years later, I was offered a chance to played Atticus Finch in the tour of To Kill a Mockingbird.

Before that tour was over in that last bit of time, Hal reached out and asked if I would be interested in doing Mark Twain sometime in the future. We had a warm collegiate relationship and admired each other’s work, and I was honored that he thought of me. And after he passed, his estate reached out to me, and I jumped at it.

What do you think makes this show so relevant for today’s audience?

I think that Twain is always relevant. He’s quintessentially American. He was relevant in the 19th Century, the 20th Century, and he’s relevant today. He holds a mirror up to what it means to be an American. His vernacular, his common speech…he struggles with the same things that Americans still struggle with. The same contradictions, the same failings that Americans do. He’s always going to be us. Twain puts up a mirror to us, and he has a lot to say about human nature in general.

People who have seen the show talk about how funny it is. What part does humor play in the show and Twain’s life?

You could say that Mark Twain was the first world-famous stand-up comedian. He was known all over the world. He would do these lecture tours where he’d tell these funny stories, and when he talked about politics and social issues, he would always do it through the lens of humor.

He’s really an equal opportunity offender. He has a lot of righteous anger in what he says. His thoughts about politics, race, women— they are very apropos of our time. And at performances, people ask about certain segments, “Did you add that in?” No, that’s pure Mark Twain out of the Gilded Age.

You’ve said before that the show isn’t really scripted. Can you explain what you mean by that?

Hal created an open opportunity for the actor. It’s less of a play and more of performance piece. It’s like you inherit a deck of cards, and it’s solitaire, so you can lay them out however you want them. Touring is especially interesting because different regions have different personality, they laugh at different things, they are reserved about different things. Some regions are more effusing or demonstrative, especially when you’re bringing someone that is as provocative as Mark Twain.

Are there any commonalities that you see from show to show?

Everyone, no matter where they are, loves when he goes after Congress. They love it. Congress is fair game. And he’s still relevant. His free thinking about religion still packs quite a punch. The things he talks are very salient.

That’s a fascinating platform. How does that change your performance each night?

It’s like you inherit a deck of cards, and it’s solitaire, so you can lay them out however you want them. He created and open opportunity for the actor. It’s less of a play and more of performance piece. Touring is especially interesting because different regions have different personality, they laugh at different things, they are reserved about different things. Some regions are more effusing or demonstrative, especially when y you’re bringing someone that is as provocative as Mark Twain.

Are there any commonalities that you see from show to show?

Everyone, no matter where they are, loves when he goes after Congress. They love it. Congress is fair game. And he’s still relevant. His free thinking about religion still packs quite a punch. The things he talks are very salient.

How has the show transformed over your time of rehearsing and performing it?

The process of theater is the opposite of film, which is a frozen art form. Every show has its own life and develops over time as you play it.  You have many stages that you go through with a play, and the better the material, the more satisfying the evolution.

Amazon Prime is now carrying The Waltons, which is where a lot of fans first fell in love with your acting. What skills from that part of your career do you bring to Mark Twain Tonight?

The Waltons was a wonderful experience on a wonderful show, a show that I was very proud of. I don’t think it informs this, but every step that you take on your path as an artist—every brick that you put on the edifice—makes it more secure. I think, if anything informs Twain, that The Waltons is quintessentially American. Atticus is quintessentially American. It also falls into the American vein that I seem to have landed in.

What would you say is the reason people should see this show at The Covey on November 14th?

Hal crafted this show over decades. It was his life’s work, along with his wonderful acting. It carries with it a kind of integrity that makes it stand alone. It’s very simple in its approach, which is one of its virtues. It’s particularly gratifying as an artist because he created a malleable and creative forum.

Even if this was a fictional character, I still think this would be a remarkable evening of theater. But because it’s a real person—a real person’s life—and because he did it with such seriousness of purpose, it has a special luster to it.

How To Get Tickets

Richard Thomas in Mark Twain Tonight!
Time: 7:30 PM
Location: Covey Main Stage
Date: Friday, November 14, 2025
Tickets: $39 - $99

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