A WORLD PREMIERE PLAY
Written by Charles Smith
Adapted from the novel by Mark Twain
Directed by Walter Dallas
Set design by Juliana von Haubrich
Costume design by Andre Harrington
Lightingdesign by Dennis Parichy
Sound design by Obadiah Eaves
Dramaturgy by Douglas Langworthy


Pudd’nhead Wilson,
adapted from the 1894 novel by Mark Twain, is the pre-Civil War story of the two sons of Judge Driscoll, the chief citizen of Dawson’s Landing, Missouri.  One of those sons - Tom - is his legal heir and the child of his wife.   The other, Chambers, is his child by his house slave, Roxy.  After the Judge’s wife dies, Roxy is left in charge of both infant children, who are close enough in features to be twins.  When Roxy is threatened with being sold away from her son, she decides to switch the babies in their cradles.  The two boys grow up with each other’s identities - creating a situation both richly ironic and ultimately tragic.   As Langston Hughes has written, Pudd’nhead Wilson “is a tribute to Mark Twain’s understanding of human character,” and his belief that “color is only skin deep.”

Click HERE for a full color poster (100k) in Adobe Acrobat format.


 
The American Century Pudd'nhead Wilson is the second new play to be commissioned as part of The Acting Company's ambitious five-year project The American Century.   The purpose of this critically acclaimed series is to develop new works for the stage based on great American Literature.  More information...

 

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