Ned Smith Center and Gamut Theatre Group presents...

A Visit With Henry David Thoreau

 

Sponsored by the Bradenbaugh-Hottenstein Foundation, this unique living history experience features actor and scholar Kevin Radaker in a dynamic portrayal of Henry David Thoreau, America's nineteenth-century apostle of the wilderness, social critic and political thinker.

In a dramatic monologue set in 1860, when America was poised upon the brink of the Civil War, Radaker will present the provocative spirit and words of Henry David Thoreau. Immediately after the 45-minute dramatic monologue, Radaker, while still in character as Thoreau, will answer questions from the audience for 15-20 minutes. Then, after Radaker is introduced to the audience, he will answer questions as a Thoreau scholar for 15-20 minutes.

Kevin Radaker is Professor of English and Chair of the English department at Anderson University in Anderson, Indiana. Besides publishing several articles on Thoreau in academic journals and delivering numerous papers, Radaker has presented his “Thoreau” over 300 times throughout the United States since 1991. In addition to performing at libraries, colleges, universities, state and national parks, he has been a part of summer Chautauqua tours in the Great Plains states (1991, ’92, ’93), Illinois and Missouri (1997, 98), Massachusetts (1998), the Carolinas and New Hampshire (2001), Oklahoma (2003), Maryland (2004), Ohio and Colorado (2008).

Show Times:
Friday, April 17 and Saturday, April 18 at 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, April 19 at 2:30 p.m.

Tickets:
Friday night: $40 general admission, $37 Ned Smith Center members
* Ticket price includes admission to a special post-show reception with the actor
Saturday night: $25 general admission, $22 Ned Smith Center members, $17 students
Sunday afternoon: Bring Your Own Price (BYOP), where any size donation buys your admission to the show
** BYOP is available at the door only. Reservations for Sunday's performance are made at full admission price.

Call (717) 238-4111 for tickets or click the button below!

Check out the great press we've been getting for Thoreau:

Click here to read a preview on Pennlive.com!

Click here to listen to Cary Burkett's interview with Kevin Radaker and Gamut Executive Director Melissa Nicholson on WITF-FM! (MP3 format)

Praise for Radaker's Thoreau:

"Weaving together Thoreau's best known lines with sentences from his journals and more obscure works, Kevin's monologue is compelling, and his in-character answers to audience questions afterward are so authentic and aptly chosen that people are persuaded they are visiting and thinking along with Thoreau himself. Radaker's Thoreau is an intellectual treat of the first order."
--Dr. George Frein, Director, National Chataqua Tour

"The challenging ideas, mind-thumping humor, and cranky passion of Thoreau are realized in the scholarship and artfulness of Radaker. This performance has in it as a constant a happy punch of immediacy, and I heartily recommend it."
--Lee Stetson, Performer of An Evening With John Muir, Yosemite National Park, Yosemite, California

"Radaker's mastery of Thoreau and his times was deeply impressive, and his feel for the man he portrayed came through with amazing clarity."
--Lloyd Hunter, Chair, Department of History, Franklin University