Holt Thespians Present "New" Play by Mark Twain

Theater will present its spring production of Is He Dead? at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Friday and Saturday March 3, 4 and  5. 

This hilarious farce is billed as a new comedy by Mark Twain as adapted by David Ives. While the never-produced script was written by Twain in 1898, this update was created by Ives in 2008.

Is He Dead? follows the irreverent story of Millet (Jimmy Cambron) a French painter whose bad luck in selling his works has left him in debt to the dastardly Andre Bastien (Kiefer Beem). To complicate matters further, Bastien has his eye on Millet’s true love Marie (Emily Hampton) and seeks to settle her father’s (Andrew Milhous) debt by taking her in marriage. 

In order to hurry and create funds for payment, Millet’s colorful friends Chicago (Brenden Schaeffer),  Duchy (Kegan Lusk) and O’Shaughnessy (Alec Noakes) hatch a plan to fake Millet’s death and drive up the price of his paintings in the eyes of the public. In order to do so, however, Millet must assume the disguise of his widowed sister to keep the secret. 

Also playing prominent roles in this outrageous comedy are Peter Billing, Brandon Callahan, Mandy Clevenger, Ryan Goodwin, Nathan Hinds, Erica Loesche, Cayla Patterson, Jon Russell and Tim Younger. 

The production is helmed by the stage management team of Nathalie Rauschelbach, Lydia Richardson and Nico Stringfellow. 

Admission is $5 for adults and $4 for students. Senior citizens will be admitted for free.