Classic Twain short stories come to life at Stow Players

Sometimes, in the deepest cold of December, it’s nice to think about a hot summer day and telling stories.  And not just any stories — stories by the “master” himself: Mark Twain.  That’s exactly what the Stow Players are doing this year for their annual “Holiday” Show: “Twain’s Tales” by David Taylor London.
“Twain’s Tales” includes four short stories by Twain: “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County,” the fence-painting episode from “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,” “The Joke That Made Ed’s Fortune,” and “The Belated Russian Passport.”
The show runs Dec. 7 through 15 at the Players’ Heritage Barn Theater in Stow’s Silver Springs Park.
The play takes place on the front porch and front yard of Holloway’s General Mercantile, Hardware & Dry Goods Store, in what could be Hannibal, Missouri in the late 1800s.  The five locals — the storekeeper, Otis Holloway (Tom Marshall of Tallmadge) and his wife, Virginia Holloway (Keri Lambert of Stow), a riverboat pilot, Thom Brady (Steve Brofman of Beachwood), a newspaper reporter, Andrew Riley (Alex Orvosh of Stow), and a newspaper printer, Floyd Warren (Adam Leventhal of Twinsburg) — spend the morning entertaining each other by seeing who can spin the tallest tale.  As the narratives unfold, the storytellers — written in the tradition of story theatre — become the characters in the tales.
Anne Guffey directs.
Show dates and times are Dec. 7, 8, 14 at 7:30 p.m., and Dec. 9 and 15 at 2:30 p.m.  All tickets are $5.  Call 330-655-6051 for reservations and information, or visit www.stowplayers.net for details.