New Mark Twain Play Debuts at UNR

Up a windy mountain road lies a city long forgotten. It is a city with seemingly nothing but memories and buildings that are falling apart. Through the years, one thing has reigned true-Twain.

In this city, lost in time, is nestled the legacy of Mark Twain. Everyone has read his work and has appreciated his contribution to the literary world.

This year marks the anniversary of Mark Twains death. However, it would seem that 100 years later, Twain still has a few surprises up his sleeve.

Samuel Clemens, known by his pen name Mark Twain, has been a literary icon for years. In 2002, another one of his masterpieces began coming to life.

“Is He Dead?” an unpublished Mark Twain play, lay undisturbed for years. Only a handful of scholars knew of its existance and it took a great deal of what seems to be serendity to put the gears in motion that would bring Mark Twain back to Nevada.

Dr. Shelley Fisher Fishkin, an english Professor at Stanford University, discovered the play when she sat down in UC Berkeley’s Bancroft library to read a drawerful, she said, it was the penultimate one.

“I found myself laughing…I’d realized that I had found a gem…but it needed a lot of work” said Fishkin.

Fishkin then began the process of editing the play and finding a the right people to bring the play to life, she said.

Twain history in Nevada was further solidified in Nov. 2010 when the finished play came to the University of Nevada, Reno. Larry A. Walters, Managing Director and Associate Professor of Theater at UNR, talks about how it has been to have Dr. Fishkin and Twain’s “new” play at UNR.

“It’s been special. I’ve definitely never experienced something like this,” Walters said.

Of course, everybody knows the Samuel Clemens became Mark Twain in Nevada and everything coming full-circle is all part of a perfect storm, he said.

When asked if he was a Twain fan, Walters only had one response “Of course, everybody reads Twain.”

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