Over 1,100 people enjoyed a stellar performance by Tony and Emmy Award winner Hal Holbrook, starring in Mark Twain Tonight!, a one-man play in which he depicts Mark Twain giving a dramatic recitation selected from several of his (Twain's) writings, with an emphasis on the comic ones and including a lengthy excerpt from Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

The recitation's genesis was a show that Holbrook performed with his first wife Ruby where she would interview him portraying famous people in history, including Twain. Holbrook revised the concept into a one-man show in the 1950s, first performing it at the Lock Haven State Teachers College in Pennsylvania in 1954. He made his first New York appearance as Twain in the Off-Broadway engagement in 1959 and premiered it on Broadway in 1966. Holbrook's performance was first noticed by New York producer John Lotas at The Lambs Club in Manhattan. Lotas presented the show at the Forty-First Street Theatre, where it ran for 174 performances. He won a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play for that appearance and an Emmy Award nomination for the 1967 television broadcast (which was produced by David Susskind) on CBS.

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Additional support provided by
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Special Thanks
Corinna Currier
Bob Rammelt, Gila Ridge High School Performing Arts Center
Gila Ridge High School Drama Club
AWC Theater Department
Patrick Quinn, Historic Yuma Theatre
Lisa Rammelt, Yuma Community Theater

Read more about Hal Holbrook on NPR.org

Hal Holbrook with KAWC General Manager Dave Riek	Hal Holbrook following the performance with News Director Lou Gum and Lou Gum, Sr.

Portions on this page excerpted from Wikipedia.