Date and Time
Saturday, May 18th
7:00 pm (Doors open at 6:30 pm)
Adapted from the book & performed by: Ken Teutsch
We often look in vain for the origins of and influences upon our writers and artists. In the case of Mark Twain, one only need speak the pseudonym he chose to find his greatest wellspring of inspiration. Despite decades of travel and writing on every topic imaginable, Mark Twain will always be linked first and foremost to the Mississippi River.
In his one-man adaptation of Twain’s work, “Life on the Mississippi,” actor and comedian Ken Teutsch goes back to the roots of America’s favorite storyteller. There is no white suit or white hair, no clever aphorisms delivered from a rocking chair. Here is a man in the prime of life recalling the glory days of steamboating on the mighty Mississippi, and recounting the unlikely story (sometimes harrowing and sometimes hilarious) of how a young, inexperienced and naïve Sam Clemens from Hannibal, Missouri came to realize the grandest dream of every boy on the River: becoming a steamboat pilot.
The experience Sam Clemens gained during his “short, sharp schooling”—from coming to terms with the shocking demands his new career makes on a man’s memory, to his awe and admiration at the steamboat crewman’s command of profanity, to his first terrible introduction to the River’s very real mortal dangers—is what created the man the world would come to know by the steamboat leadsman’s cry: “Mark Twain.”
About the Artist
Ken Teutsch made his public performance debut at age four singing Homer & Jethro songs for his father’s friends in the pool hall in his hometown of Taylor, Arkansas. Since then, he has worked as actor, comedian, and writer on and for stage, television, film and radio, as well as stand-up comedian in clubs and colleges. He co-wrote and produced the weekly TV comedy show, “Limbo Drive-in,” plus a weekly radio series, and live radio comedy program, “Behind the Mic with Ken & Mike.” His short film, “Spooklight” was honored with an award from the Indie Memphis Film Festival. Ken returns to his pool hall roots performing and recording music in the guise of his alter-ego, perennially unknown country music “star,” Rudy Terwilliger.
Ken was the voice of Mark Twain in the award-winning documentary, Dreamland: Mark Twain’s Journey to Jerusalem. He has performed “Life on the Mississippi” for appreciative audiences up and down the Mississippi itself, from Tennessee to Minnesota.
