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Celebrating 150 Years of Samuel and Olivia Clemens

Elmira, NY (01/27/2020) — The Elmira College Center for Twain Studies and Elmira College Theatre Department are hosting a staged reading and musical performance in honor of the 150th wedding anniversary of Samuel and Olivia Langdon Clemens on Wednesday, February 5. The event, from 7:00-8:00 p.m. in Watson Arena Theatre at Elmira College, is free and open to the public.

The evening includes dramatic readings from Mark Twain's imagined "Diaries of Adam and Eve," Twain's own recollection of the wedding after Olivia's death, Ida Langdon's discerning thoughts about her aunt and uncle, as well as a few surprise performances inspired by Twain's penchant for bending truth in the service to telling a good story.

Readings will be performed by Marisa Woodley '23, Elijah Jordan '23, and Sarah Turner '20, with music by Patrick Hoose-Saukas '21 and Noah Dorchester '21. Lighting for the performances is by Hanna Yoselevich '22.

Samuel Clemens, most famously known as Mark Twain, married Elmira native, Olivia Langdon, in 1870. Although they moved to Buffalo, New York, before eventually settling in Hartford, Connecticut, the Clemens spent their summers in Elmira at Quarry Farm. It was during these peaceful summers in his study, now located on the Elmira College campus, that much of the work of Mark Twain was written.

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The Elmira College Center for Twain Studies and Elmira College Theatre Department are hosting a staged reading and musical performance in honor of Samuel and Olivia Langdon Clemens’s 150th wedding anniversary on Wednesday, February 5. The event, from 7:00-8:00 p.m. in Watson Arena Theatre at Elmira College, is free and open to the public.

Sarah

Turner