THE ENTERTAINMENT COMMUNITY FUND TO PRESENT “MARK TWAIN TONIGHT!” ON NOVEMBER 2
Press Contacts:
Rick Miramontez / Kendall Edwards / Evie Freeman / Morgan Zysman / Bailey Everett
rick@omdkc.com / kendall@omdkc.com / evie@omdkc.com / morgan@omdkc.com / bailey@omdkc.com
212 695 7400
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, PLEASETHE ENTERTAINMENT COMMUNITY FUND
TO PRESENT
“MARK TWAIN TONIGHT!”
STARRING
EMMY-AWARD® WINNING ACTOR AND 2025 THEATER HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE RICHARD THOMAS
AND A POST-SHOW TALKBACK WITH
PRIZEWINNING AND BESTSELLING AUTHOR RON CHERNOW
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2026
7:00 PM ET
AT THE TOWN HALL
TICKETS ON SALE NOW!
New York, NY (September 24, 2026) – The Entertainment Community Fund (formerly The Actors Fund) announced today that they will present Mark Twain Tonight! by Hal Holbrook, a one-night-only benefit performance, on Monday, November 2, 2026 at 7 pm ET at The Town Hall (123 W 43rd St). The event will feature Emmy-Award® winning Actor and 2025 Theater Hall of Fame Inductee Richard Thomas. Following the performance, prizewinning and bestselling author Ron Chernow will join Thomas for a talkback. Proceeds will help the Entertainment Community Fund support performing arts and entertainment professionals in need.
Richard Thomas was recently seen on Broadway in the award-winning play The Balusters, for which he received a 2026 Tony Award nomination, on tour as Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird, on Netflix’s Ozark and beloved to generations as John-Boy Walton. He is the first and only actor authorized to perform Mark Twain Tonight! since the original.
He brings to life “the nation’s one true comic genius” (The New York Times) in Mark Twain Tonight!, written and originally performed by Hal Holbrook. Join the millions who have cheered for the legendary one-man show, bursting with Twain’s “uproariously funny” and “pungently wise” (Time Magazine) humor.
Ron Chernow is the prizewinning author of eight books, including Mark Twain, and the recipient of the 2015 National Humanities Medal. His first book, The House of Morgan, won the National Book Award, Washington: A Life won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography and Alexander Hamilton—the inspiration for the Broadway musical—won the George Washington Book Prize. He has twice been a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and is one of only three living biographers to have won the Gold Medal for Biography of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Tickets are now on sale and available at entertainmentcommunity.org/MarkTwainTonight.
For more information regarding sponsorship opportunities, please contact premler@entertainmentcommunity.org.
To download headshots, please click here.
In the 2025-2026 touring season, Richard Thomas in Mark Twain Tonight! played 74 performances in 46 cities across North America.
The creative team for Mark Twain Tonight! includes Michael Wilson (Creative Consultant), Brian Prather (Scenic Designer), Sam Fleming (Costume Designer), Anthony Pearson (Lighting Designer), Shannon Slaton (Sound Designer) and Luc Verschueren for Campbell Young Associates (Wig Design). The production team includes Brian L’Ecuyer (Production Supervisor).
This evening is executive produced by Hannah Rosenthal, and was made possible by special arrangement with the Mark Twain Tonight! Trust
BIOGRAPHIES
RICHARD THOMAS won an Emmy Award and received multiple Golden Globe Award nominations for his starring role as ‘John-Boy Walton’ in the television drama The Waltons. He is most recognizable to contemporary television audiences for his roles in the hit series Ozark, The Americans, Billions and the original Stephen King mini-series It. His feature film performances include The Unforgivable, Wonder Boys, Last Summer, Red Sky at Morning and Taking Woodstock. He has been seen in acclaimed performances on stage including The Balusters (2026 Tony Award nomination), the revival of The Little Foxes, for which he received a Tony Award nomination, Our Town, You Can’t Take it With You, The Great Society, Race, Democracy, Incident at Vichy (Drama Desk Award nomination), The Stendhal Syndrome (Lucille Lortel Award nomination, Outer Critics Circle Award nomination), A Naked Girl on the Appian Way, An Enemy of the People, Tiny Alice, The Front Page, The Fifth of July, innumerable Shakespeare productions, and his professional debut at 8 years old in Sunrise at Campobello. Across the country he has starred in the national tours of The Humans (Elliot Norton Award), Twelve Angry Men and for three years as Atticus Finch in Aaron Sorkin’s To Kill a Mockingbird. Richard previously served as the Honorary Chair of the National Corporate Theatre Fund, a position also held by his predecessor Hal Holbrook. He is a 2025 inductee to the Theater Hall of Fame.
RON CHERNOW is the prizewinning author of eight books, including Mark Twain, and the recipient of the 2015 National Humanities Medal. His first book, The House of Morgan, won the National Book Award, Washington: A Life won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography and Alexander Hamilton—the inspiration for the Broadway musical—won the George Washington Book Prize. He has twice been a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and is one of only three living biographers to have won the Gold Medal for Biography of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. A past president of PEN America, Chernow has been the recipient of nine honorary doctorates.
ABOUT THE ENTERTAINMENT COMMUNITY FUND
The Entertainment Community Fund, formerly The Actors Fund, is a national human services organization that addresses the unique needs of people who work in performing arts and entertainment with services focused on health and wellness, career and life, and housing. Since 1882, the Fund has sought to ensure stability, encourage resiliency and be a safety net for those who shape our country’s cultural vibrancy. Learn more at entertainmentcommunity.org.
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