I met this morning with 2 of my top sales people to review your performance.. We enjoyed your
program. We found your looks awesome. You really do look like "the man." Your humorous
stories such as, "no teeth, my mother was happy for that" is VERY funny, and we all laughed. The motivation
you gave the salespeople was, witty, humorous and above all useful
Thanks, Mobile Ed. Productions.
Last Saturday
night, we felt like we'd been visited by a ghost from the past, Mark Twain. Your show is just the perfect show for the
Lincoln Square historic theatre. Since word of mouth is the best advertising, next year we will fill all 1200 seats.
Executive Director Lincoln Square Theatre, Decatur, IL
SRO at The Cumming Playhouse
"An Evening with Mark Twain".
What a delightful occasion. It was a heart lifting experience with humor, so tastefully displayed. The laughter through-out
the performance was gratifying as we promise our patrons the very best entertainment. To top it off it was a
SRO show. A fitting tribute to the great humorist. You will be on our schedule again next season! Thank you Mr. Sutton
for such a lovely evening.
Executive Director, Cumming Playhouse
Your show was fantastic, to see how you could address an eleven year old boy and a man of eighty in the same
audience was AMAZING! Watching everyone singing and tapping toes....yes! The night of that first show I went home
wishing I could have heard every word more clearly ( I am deaf in one ear and have some loss in the other). Vanity keeps me
from wearing hearing aids and times like Friday night make me realize just how much I am missing. Saturday night I was
front and center I was blessed and heard EVERY word. I was so glad you performed again I enjoyed it SO much and appreciated
it more than I can say.
Manager, Velocity International Marketing
It was a great show, everyone enjoyed your protrayal of one of America's favorite humorist. The business stories
were spell binding and hit the mark. The staff was totally engrossed in you speech/performance. We look forward
to a return appearance.
Thanks, President DRA, Knoxville, TN
Thank you so much for your help in raising over $3000.00 for the benefit of Grace to the Nations. The
money will be well spent and the show was just right for our audience.
Thanks, Executive Director, Grace to the Nations
kurtsutton@mindspring.com
| Becky Thatcher on Stage with Mark Twain |
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In last night’s performance Kurt Sutton, vivid in the character of Mark Twain, was creatively
funny with Twain’s material . His physical features and gestures being reminisce of the older man telling humorous tales
of his life. The show was witty, humorus, funny and at times just plain hilarious. The banjo playing and music throughout
the performance was a pleasant unexpected surprise. A real fun addition to his Hal Holbrook style show, The experience really
takes you back in time.
Potash Ampitheatre, Keene, NH.
Cherokee County next February will be transformed into the fictional town
of St. Petersburg, Mo. The Towne Lake Arts Center has won a $14,000 The Big Read grant from the National Endowment
of the Arts to present a series of programs celebrating the classic book, "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer."
By Barbara P. Jacoby Cherokee Tribune, Managing Editor
The 1876 novel by Mark Twain tells
the tale of a boy growing up in a small town along the Mississippi River in the years following the Civil War.
On Monday, 200 communities were selected
to participate in this year's program to promote reading and literacy and receive grants totaling $2.8 million. The arts center
is one of only eight applicants in Georgia to be selected.
Participating communities, between
September and next June, are to present a month of special activities to bring the community together to read, discuss and
celebrate a specific novel.
Arts Center Artistic Director Gay
Grooms said she decided to apply after seeing "Tom Sawyer" had been added to the NEA's list of choices for the project.
"Part of the focus of The Big Read
is to encourage reluctant or lapsed readers, many of whom, statistically speaking, are adolescent boys, to pick up a great
novel and read again. What better book than 'The Adventures of Tom Sawyer' to give to a young fellow to get excited about
reading?" she said, noting the arts center also has produced a play based on the book, most recently in 2006.
Through a partnership with the Sequoyah
Regional Library System, the arts center will present six weeks of activities kicking off in February.
Plans include local performances by
Canton native Kurt "Mr. Twain" Sutton, who brings the famed author to life in a one-man show. Sutton was in character to entertain
guests during the arts center's recent "Tom Sawyer" shows.
As part of The Big Read, Sutton will
visit local libraries and middle and high schools, where as Twain he will distribute free copies of "his book," as well as
tell stories and sing songs.
Community events in the works include
mini-raft building contests, treasure hunts and a Becky Thatcher Tea Party at Tea Leaves and Thyme in Woodstock, Mrs. Grooms
said.
The culminating event will be performances
of the "Tom Sawyer" play at the arts center. Admission will be free to everyone who reads one of the copies of the book distributed
through the program and turns in a special bookmark.
Participating communities also receive
free educational materials from the NEA including guides for readers and teachers as well as audio guides that feature readings
from the novel along with commentary from renowned figures.
"We will be distributing hundreds
of books, reader's guides, teacher guides and audio guides throughout Cherokee," Mrs. Grooms said. "It is our goal to have
as many citizens and students as possible join in the fun and get back into reading through The Big Read in Cherokee County."
For Carson Ray, regional supervisor
of youth services for the library system, the partnership was as perfect a match as fictional pals Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry
Finn.
"It seemed so natural that the library
be a part of this literacy initiative. I imagine us bringing Cherokee County alive with literacy," she said, noting "Tom Sawyer"
is among her favorite novels. "We'll be dragging literacy out of the mud, cleaning it up and putting a shine on it."
bjacoby@cherokeetribune.com
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