N.B.: I am posting the following information on behalf of the Rutgers Presbyterian Church of NYC. --Kevin B. For further information, Contact: Patricia Pastas [log in to unmask] 212.877.8227 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE MARK TWAIN: TRAVELING at Rutgers Presbyterian Church, a Benefit Performance for the Christopher Roberts Shelter Date and Time: Sunday, May 30, 2010 at 4:00 p.m. Running Time: 75 minutes Admission: $20 recommended donation General Admission Seating Subway: 1, 2, and 3 to 72nd Street Mark Twain: Traveling is a one-person performance premised as Twain lecturing on his travels. New York, N.Y. The wry wit and the outrageous humor of Mark Twain will be celebrated in "Mark Twain: Traveling," a benefit performance for the Christopher Roberts Shelter* at Rutgers Presbyterian Church, 236 West 73rd Street (just west of Broadway), on Sunday, May 30 at 4:00 p.m. Proceeds from the performance will benefit the Shelter; suggested donation $20. (Note: The west side of Broadway will be closed to traffic from 72nd Street to 86th Street for the 23rd Annual Livable West Side Festival.) "Mark Twain: Traveling," devised and performed by veteran actor Cal Pritner features Twain's lecturing humorously about his lifetime of travel from America, to the Sandwich Islands, to Europe, and to the Holy Land. "Lots of folks don't realize that Twain's first two major books, the ones that first made him famous, were travel books." Pritner says, "The Innocents Abroad" was unusual if not revolutionary for an American travel book. "He wrote about Europe and the Holy Land in a way that was profoundly different from previous Americans." According to Pritner, before Twain American travelers wrote of Europe with reverence, saying what they were "supposed" to say about sites like the Acropolis in Athens, Greece. "Twain was totally irreverent and people loved it, after they got over the shock." Twain was one of the world's most popular lecturers. In 1896 he toured around the world, performing to full houses in New Zealand, Australia, India and South Africa. Pritner, a theatre professor whose former students include Tony winners Judith Ivey and Rondi Reed, as well as many of Steppenwolf Theatre's early company, wrote and began performing the travel piece in 1997, after having studied Twain for years. "Mark Twain: Traveling" has been performed in venues from Barbados (the Holders Festival) to Blue Lake California, at New York City's Lotos Club (Twain was a member), in Los Angeles, in Arizona's oldest bar, in the Midwest, and in the Southeast. Pritner, the founding artistic director of the Illinois Shakespeare Festival, has appeared on several television series including HBO's "The Speck Murders," "The A-Team," "Hunter," and "The Untouchables." He played the role of the governor of Missouri in Robert Altman's feature film, "Kansas City." Stage work includes plays in Chicago, New York City, and Kansas City. Recently he appeared as Prospero in the Arizona Shakespeare Festival production of Shakespeare's "The Tempest." *Christopher Roberts Shelter: Three nights each week, working with Christ & St. Stephen Episcopal Church, Rutgers Presbyterian Church hosts ten men in need of shelter who have been screened by Partnership for the Homeless. Volunteers from Rutgers and the community stay overnight-in a safe and pleasant environment-so that the men have a nourishing meal and a comfortable place to sleep while working toward permanent housing. <end>