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For Immediate Release: March 9, 2007
Hal Holbrook Appears In "MARK TWAIN TONIGHT!"
One-Man Show to Benefit Society’s Historic Towboat W.P. Snyder Jr.
Hal Holbrook’s historic one-man show, Mark Twain Tonight! will be performed at the historic Smoot Theatre in Parkersburg at 8:00 p.m. on Thursday, May 3. The performance is a benefit for the fundraising campaign for the restoration of the sternwheeler W.P. Snyder Jr., a National Historic Landmark moored at the Ohio Historical Society’s Ohio River Museum in Marietta and the sole surviving steam-powered, “pool” type towboat still in existence in America.
Tickets are $45 for orchestra and lower balcony seats and $35 for upper balcony seats and are available from the Smoot Theatre Box Office at 304.422.PLAY (7529).
Holbrook has strong ties to Ohio. He was born in Cleveland in 1925 and entered Denison University in Granville, Ohio in 1942, majoring in Theatre. Among his many achievements are an Honorary Doctor of Humanities from Ohio State University, Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts from Kenyon and his alma mater, Denison University.
After a stint in World War II, Holbrook embarked upon an honors project at Denison where the Mark Twain characterization was born. He toured the school assembly circuit with his first wife, Ruby, doing 307 shows in thirty weeks and traveling 30,000 miles by station wagon with a two-person show playing characters from Shakespeare to Twain. His first solo performance as Mark Twain was at the Lock Haven State Teachers College in Pennsylvanian in 1954. He has toured the show in some part of every year since 1954, with over 2100 performances, making 2007 the 53rd consecutive year for his remarkable one-man show.
Contributions to the Snyder restoration campaign and endowment are ongoing. For more information about this effort, contact the Ohio Historical Society’s Office of Institutional Advancement at 614.297.2308.
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ATTENTION EDITORS:
HI-RESOLUTION IMAGES OF HAL HOLBROOK AS MARK TWAIN ARE AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST. CONTACT TIM BARBOUR AT 614.297.2396
Note: In partnership with Creative Coach, a Fun Bus tour to the show is available. Round trip transportation, dinner at the historic Lafayette Hotel in Marietta and a ticket to the show are available for $125 per person. For more information, contact Creative Coach Company at (888) FUNBUS-0 or 740.987.2870.
Media contact: Michael Ring: 614.297.2313 or mring@ohiohistory.org
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