© Jim Post 2012
In “Mark Twain and the Laughing River,” written in
1996, Post uses the thread of his music to weave a
funny and touching tapestry of the author’s colorful
life. He’s taken the show from his little Trolley Depot
Theater in Galena, to the Smithsonian, to the English
Speaking Theatre in Vienna, Austria, and many points
in between. It won an American Library Association
Award, and the lyrics to one of the show’s songs,
“Mighty Big River,” are included in the 1999 edition,
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer: With Connections.
Post says he resisted playing Twain at first, believing
that his faithful audiences would expect him to sing,
until someone pointed out that Twain, who traveled
extensively as a speaker, himself played the banjo,
guitar and piano and sang at parties. Post now
possesses an amazing affinity for the man he portrays,
even choking up as he describes the tender relationship
Twain and his wife shared.
- Northwest Quarterly Magazine Winter 2008-09
AS MARK TWAIN
