West Virginia State University to Host Reenactment of Mark Twain Friday, April 29

4/20/2022

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Contact: Jack Bailey
(304) 766-4109
Jbaile19@wvstateu.edu
 
     
INSTITUTE, W.Va. -- West Virginia State University (WVSU) will host a reenactment of famed American author Mark Twain on Friday, April 29, at 10:30 a.m. in the Ferrell Hall Auditorium.

WVSU students, faculty, staff and high school juniors and seniors from throughout the region have been invited to attend the event.

Born Nov. 30, 1835, in the small town of Florida, Missouri, with the given name of Samuel Langhorne Clemens, Mark Twain achieved international acclaim for such works as “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,” The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” and “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court.”

Twain’s story, "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calavaras County" appeared in the New York Saturday Press on November 18, 1865, and his road to fame began.  His first book, "The Innocents Abroad," was published in 1869, "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" in 1876, and "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" in 1885. He wrote 28 books and numerous short stories, letters and sketches during his lifetime.

Twain passed away on April 21, 1910, but has a following still today. His childhood home is open to the public as a museum in Hannibal, and Calavaras County in California holds the Calavaras County Fair and Jumping Frog Jubilee every third weekend in May. Other towns celebrate his life with Liar’s Contests, public readings of his works, and even reenactments of his funeral.

Bob Gleason is the reenactor who will portray Twain. Trained in theater at West Chester University, Gleason is a popular performer at schools, museums, historic sites and libraries across the country. In addition to Mark Twain, he has portrayed other historic figures such as Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell and Edgar Allan Poe.

The Reenactment of Mark Twain is sponsored by the National Society of The Colonial Dames of America (NSCDA), a patriotic society which promotes appreciation for the people, places, and events that led to the formation and development of our country. Since 1891, the NSCDA’s mission has been to actively promote national heritage through historic preservation, patriotic service, and educational projects.

The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America in the State of West Virginia (NSCDA-WV) was founded in 1900. The headquarters for NSCDA-WV is the Craik-Patton Museum House in Charleston, West Virginia.

Following the reenactment presentation, high school students will be given tours of the WVSU campus followed by an assembly inside the Walker Convocation Center where scholarship presentations will be made to qualifying students who have committed to attend WVSU in fall 2022.

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West Virginia State University is a public, land grant, historically black university, which has evolved into a fully accessible, racially integrated, and multi-generational institution, located in Institute, W.Va. As a “living laboratory of human relations,” the university is a community of students, staff, and faculty committed to academic growth, service, and preservation of the racial and cultural diversity of the institution. Its mission is to meet the higher education and economic development needs of the state and region through innovative teaching and applied research.