Huck Finn, adapted from the Mark Twain novel by Eric Schmiedl, plays June 13 – July 13
Fridays at 7 p.m.
Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m.
Running time: 1 hour.
This historic American work, the intended sequel to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, has been praised, studied, criticized and banned over the decades since it was published in the U.S. in 1885. However, the adventures of Huck and Jim, as they ply their way down the Mississippi, remain an essential part of the American experience and, on The Lantern Theatre stage, these memorable characters and many more will be portrayed by Valerie C. Kilmer and Chennelle Harris.
William Hoffman (Producing Director) is a Cleveland area producer, director and writer. He was a member of The Cleveland Play House staff from1991-2005 where he produced The Children’s Theatre, The Club Cabaret Series and directed over 35 productions, including: Songs The Harrigans Sang, I Do! I Do!, Blues in The Night, A Tuna Christmas, Mambo Italiano and Everybody’s Boppin’. His most recent directing efforts have been Oklahoma!, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Oliver!, and this summer's, MACBETH-A Rock Opera by Kenneth Kacmar for CAMEO at the beautiful Medina Performing Arts Center and Eric Schmiedl's Browns Rules at CPT. In the mid 70’s Bill was a co-founder of the Westbeth Theatre Center in New York where he served as artistic director for eight, Off-Off Broadway seasons. A graduate of Denison University and Ohio University, Bill is currently a Life Skills Coach for Project ACT (The Homeless Children and Youth Project) of the Cleveland Metropolitan School District where he tutors students at Paul Revere Elementary School and continues to produce The Reading Company, a literacy program for families living in emergency shelters.
Eric Schmiedl (playwright) is a native of Cleveland, Ohio, and a graduate of Kent State University and the University of Hawai’i. His plays for children and adult audiences have been produced by theatres including the Denver Center Theatre Company, Cleveland Play House, the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Cleveland Public Theatre, the Idaho Shakespeare Festival, New Stages Theatre, the Honolulu Theatre for Youth, the Oregon Children’s Theatre, Karamu House, Great Lakes Theater Company, and BackStage Theatre in Chicago. He is currently working on two commissions for the Denver Center Theatre Company and a new original play with his wife, Nigerian storyteller Adaora Nzelibe Schmiedl, developed through PlayhouseSquare’s innovative Launch program with the generous support of Cleveland Public Theatre. This fall Eric had the great pleasure of celebrating his love of Cleveland and the Cleveland Browns with a remounting of The Kardiac Kid produced by Cleveland Public Theatre and presented at PlayhouseSquare. Eric is the recipient of a 2012 Creative Workforce Fellowship as well as an Aurand Harris Fellowship, two Edgerton Awards, and a Sloan Foundation Commission. Eric is a member of the Cleveland Play House’s Playwrights’ Unit and is on the faculty of the Low-Residency Master of Fine Arts in Writing program at Spalding University in Louisville, Kentucky.