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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: center"
align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">For Actors’ Summit,
never the ‘Twain’ shall meet<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: center"
align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: center"
align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Bob
Abelman<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: center"
align=center><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">News-Herald,
Chagrin Valley Times, Solon Times, Geauga Times
Courier<o:p></o:p></SPAN></I></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: center"
align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Member,
International Association of Theatre Critics <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: center"
align=center><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></I></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: center"
align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">This
review appeared in the <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Times </I>papers
6/25/09</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: center"
align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Mark Twain is one of
the most quoted humorists in American history.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>His brash optimism and common-sense
observations about the human condition, as expressed through his many newspaper
stories, travelogues, essays, novels, and speeches during the late-1800s, have
provided a treasure trove of clever quips, entertaining anecdotes,
and</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT face=Calibri> </FONT></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">sage
counsel.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Twain himself was a
master storyteller with a mischievous, laid-back Missourian manner and trademark
appearance.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It is little wonder
that he and his work have become the subjects of numerous one-man shows created
by actors and literary historians.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">The gold standard for
these shows, <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Mark Twain Tonight</I>,
features award winning actor and Cleveland native Hal Holbrook.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Mr. Holbrook has been playing Mark Twain
for 55 years, which is nearly as long as Mark Twain played Mark Twain.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>He has performed his one-man show on
tour and on the Broadway stage over 2100 times, including a short stint at
PlayhouseSquare this past March.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Close on his heels is
Ashland University theater professor Ric Goodwin, who has been performing as
Twain for 28 years.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>His 90-minute,
one-act one-man show, </SPAN><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Mark
Twain: Semi-literate Lecturer, Liar & Loafer</SPAN></I><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">,
is currently being staged by Actors’ Summit in Hudson as part of its “American
Mirrors” summer repertory festival.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">The
festival brings </SPAN><SPAN lang=EN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN">four
small shows — three of which are one-man portraits of American cultural icons,
including Twain, </SPAN><SPAN class=bodycopy1><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Nat
“King” Cole and Clarence Darrow</SPAN></SPAN><SPAN lang=EN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN">
— to the Actors’ Summit stage and </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">the
Hudson Library.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">The
show that Mr. Goodwin has developed and performs is a compilation of material
that comes primarily from Twain’s “</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Life
on the Mississippi,” “Roughing It,” “Innocents Abroad” and “A Tramp Aboard,”
which are <SPAN style="COLOR: black">travelogues.</SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>As such, it is a very different animal
than Mr. Holbrook’s work, which consists largely of excerpts from more humorous
and profound essays including “The Damned Human Race.”</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">The
travelogues that dominate <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black">Mark Twain: Semi-literate Lecturer, Liar &
Loafer</SPAN></I><SPAN style="COLOR: black"> </SPAN>take us on the many journeys
that constituted Mark Twain’s colorful life, but fall short on giving much
insight into Twain’s life or Twain himself.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Missing from these selected stories is
material that brings his acerbic, back-handed wit to the forefront.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Missing is his infamous honey-dipped
political incorrectness.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Missing is
an explanation for the title of this show.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">The
most apparent omission is the lack of connective tissue to provide smooth
transitions from one story to the next and which tie all these stories
together.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>T</SPAN><SPAN lang=EN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN">he
playbill notes that </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">“</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Persons attempting to
find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a
moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be
shot.”<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This </SPAN><SPAN lang=EN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN">quote
from </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">“Adventures
of Huckleberry Finn” </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">was Twain’s attempt
to sidestep the controversial nature of his book by calling attention to its
playfulness.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Unfortunately, a
one-man show format demands the very qualities this quote
denounces.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Playfulness is also
missing from this show.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Mr.
Goodwin is a fine Twain.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>He
certainly looks and sounds the part in his ivory-colored three piece suit, thick
hairpiece, moustache and southern drawl, and he has obviously mastered the
material.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>What he lacks is the
charm and mischievousness that so clearly </SPAN><SPAN lang=EN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN">seeps
from Twain’s words and permeates Mr. Holbrook’s famed
performances.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN">Mr.
Holbrook’s one-man show is a joyous celebration of the man and his musings.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Mr. Goodwin’s is not and, in this
regard, never the Twain shall meet.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Mark
Twain: Semi-literate Lecturer, Liar & Loafer</SPAN></I><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">
is an interesting and informative performance piece.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It is just not as entertaining as its
namesake should inspire.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It plays
in repertory until July 26 in nearby
Hudson.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>