ARTIST ROSTER - THEATRE

“'An Evening with Mark Twain: 'The Trouble Begins at Eight.'”

Edina

One-Man Show

My one-man show, ““An Evening with Mark Twain: 'The Trouble Begins at Eight,” presents the humorist, writer, and stage personality as a white-haired 70-year-old man in a white suit and red ascot recalling his life as a boy on the Mississippi, a riverboat pilot, a Confederate soldier in the Civil War (for two weeks), a gold and silver prospector in Nevada, and a reporter in Virginia City and San Francisco. Twain's own writings excerpted from his novels, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, as well as from his short stories, essays, speeches, letters, and autobiography are included in the presentation. Drawing upon these well-known humorous writings as well as his lesser-known, later satire, I present material used by Twain himself in his talks given throughout the country and around the world.

Previously unpublished and unknown material by Twain is also used in my one-and-a-half-hour show as well as writings only available to scholars and unavailable to other impersonators, such as Hal Holbrook. Specifically, I often include Twain's comments about Minnesota and North Dakota made during his train trip through the area on his World Lecture Tour of 1895. In addition, I can access material that Twain never allowed to be published publicly in his own lifetime because of its scandalous nature. Shorter shows of any length as well as material tailored to any audience are readily available.

A Lifetime of Teaching Older Adults

For over 30 years I taught evening and night courses to community adults, and I mentored and directed graduate theses of many “older-than-average” students. Examples of other programs I led for older adults:

Sponsored by ND Humanities Council:
Series of 18 semi-weekly discussions of new PBS films based on classic American short stories screened at community centers and the Villa Maria Nursing Home.
Two series of weekly meetings and discussions with the residents of two nursing homes using National Council on Aging materials.

Sponsored by National Elderhostel:
Taught two courses at NDSU focused on Mark Twain as a writer and humorist who had traveled through Minnesota and North Dakota and expressed his opinion about the area - “Mark Twain: In Literature, In N D, and In Person.” At the graduation ceremony, Twain himself made an appearance and conferred certificates on the participants.

My Mark Twain show represents a natural evolution of my lifelong interests. Beginning in 1983,” I traveled across ND to spend an entire day in a town presenting my Twain material in multiple venues, including grade schools, high schools, radio stations, senior centers, Carnegie libraries, and community rooms. From the first, I designed specific Twain material to appeal to senior citizens.

Through 2008, I have performed my Twain show in full dress - white suit, red ascot, white wig -- over 120 times for more than 11,500 people in North Dakota and Minnesota. These one-man shows combine my lifetime interests in literature, writing, teaching, and promoting the arts and humanities in non-academic settings.

Awards:

• Speakers Bureau, North Dakota Humanities Council, "Mark Twain Live and In Person"
• Outstanding Service Award, College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, NDSU
• Mart Vogel Teaching Award, English Department, NDSU
• Outstanding Educator Award, Advisory Board, College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, NDSU