The Entertainment Community Fund has set a one-night benefit performance of Mark Twain Tonight! at The Town Hall on Monday, November 2, with Richard Thomas in the part Hal Holbrook wrote for himself and a post-show talkback with biographer Ron Chernow.
Richard Thomas is the first and only actor authorized to perform Mark Twain Tonight! since Hal Holbrook, who wrote the one-man show and originally played it himself. On Monday, November 2 he takes it into The Town Hall for a single performance.
The Entertainment Community Fund, formerly The Actors Fund, announced the evening today and is presenting it as a benefit: proceeds go toward the organization’s support of performing arts and entertainment professionals in need. Curtain is at 7 pm ET at The Town Hall, 123 W 43rd St, and tickets are on sale now.
Thomas plays Twain as a lecturer — “the nation’s one true comic genius” in the phrase The New York Times used for him — in an evening of humor Time magazine called “uproariously funny” and “pungently wise.”
The performance is followed by a talkback between Thomas and Ron Chernow, whose eight books include Mark Twain. Chernow won the National Book Award for The House of Morgan, the Pulitzer Prize for Biography for Washington: A Life and the George Washington Book Prize for Alexander Hamilton, the book behind the Broadway musical.
He received the National Humanities Medal in 2015, has twice been a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and is one of three living biographers holding the American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal for Biography.
Thomas was nominated for a 2026 Tony Award for The Balusters on Broadway, and spent three years as Atticus Finch in the national tour of To Kill a Mockingbird. An Emmy winner for The Waltons and seen more recently in Ozark, The Americans and Billions, he was inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame in 2025.
He has the road behind him on this one: in the 2025–2026 touring season Thomas gave 74 performances of Mark Twain Tonight! in 46 cities across North America.
Michael Wilson is creative consultant, with scenic design by Brian Prather, costumes by Sam Fleming, lighting by Anthony Pearson, sound by Shannon Slaton and wig design by Luc Verschueren for Campbell Young Associates. Brian L’Ecuyer is production supervisor.
The evening is executive produced by Hannah Rosenthal and takes place by special arrangement with the Mark Twain Tonight! Trust. The Entertainment Community Fund has worked since 1882 as a national human services organization for people employed in performing arts and entertainment, in health and wellness, career and life, and housing.
Mark Twain Tonight! is at The Town Hall, 123 W 43rd St, on Monday, November 2, 2026 at 7 pm ET, for one performance only. Tickets are on sale now at entertainmentcommunity.org/MarkTwainTonight.
