One-Man Show on Thoreau Gets Premiere at BTG

David Adkins as Thoreau (photo Michael J  Riha)

David Adkins as Thoreau (photo Michael J Riha)

(STOCKBRIDGE, Mass.) – “Thoreau or, Return to Walden,” a world premiere written and performed by David Adkins, is now running at the Berkshire Theatre Group’s Unicorn Theatre through Saturday, July 11, 2015, at 8pm. In this one-man show, Adkins takes the stage as New England Transcendentalist, poet, and philosopher Henry David Thoreau.

The writing of Henry David Thoreau comes to life in this dramatic, uplifting and timely tale as he battles with himself, with his own thirst for blood, and for the soul of our American conscience. It’s 1859. The Union is on the verge of civil war over the issue of slavery. Passion, politics and prose collide on the shores of Walden Pond when beloved American naturalist and prophet of peaceful resistance learns that freedom fighter and abolitionist John Brown has been sentenced to hang. How did the beloved poet and naturalist, hero of children’s books, inspirer of Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., and writer of “Walden” and “Civil Disobedience” come to write, “I do not wish to kill nor to be killed, but I can foresee circumstances in which both these things would be by me unavoidable (A Plea for Captain John Brown).”

Henry David Thoreau was born on July 12, 1817, in Concord, Mass., the son of a business owner; his father owned a pencil factory that Thoreau would work in periodically throughout his life. Ralph Waldo Emerson’s work, Nature, largely influenced Thoreau in his writing; this truly sparked the Transcendentalist flame in him.  He even lived with Emerson for a bit, and it was on Emerson’s land by Walden Pond where Thoreau built his simplistic home that inspired Thoreau to write his defining work, Walden.  Thoreau was driven by the idea of individuality and believed that everyone must embark on their own unique adventure, as he did with Walden Pond, in order to come to any true realizations about oneself.  He was also an ardent abolitionist who wholeheartedly believed that slavery was wrong and questioned whether a government that supports such an institution was worthy of loyalty; his work, Civil Disobedience, inspired such Human Rights activists as Martin Luther King, Jr. and Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi.

Tickets to Thoreau or, Return to Walden are $50. For tickets, contact the Colonial Ticket Office at 111 South Street, Pittsfield by calling 413-997-4444, or purchase online at Berkshire Theatre Group. The Ticket Office is open Monday-Friday 10am-5pm, Saturdays 10am- 2pm or on any performance day from 10am until curtain.

 

 

Thoreau or, Return to Walden

WORLD PREMIERE

written by David Adkins

directed by Eric Hill

featuring David Adkins

 

at The Unicorn Theatre, Stockbridge

The Larry Vaber Stage

Closing: Saturday, July 11at 8pm

Tickets: A: $50

Performance Dates

Wednesday, June 24 at 7pm

Thursday, June 25 at 7pm

Friday, June 26 at 8pm

Saturday, June 27 at 2pm and 8pm

Monday, June 29 at 7pm

Tuesday, June 30 at 7pm

Wednesday, July 1 at 7pm

Thursday, July 2 at 2pm and 7pm

Friday, July 3 at 8pm

Saturday, July 4 at 2pm

Monday, July 6 at 7pm

Tuesday, July 7 at 7pm

Wednesday, July 8 at 7pm

Thursday, July 9 at 2pm and 7pm

Friday, July 10 at 8pm

Saturday, July 11 at 2pm and 8pm (Closing)

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