Event

Is He Dead?

Theatre UNO and The NOLA Project join together to present the New Orleans premiere of Is He Dead?, and in doing so open Theatre UNO's 2011-2012 season. This "new" comedy is by America's greatest satirist, Mark Twain. Twain wrote the play in 1898 and unfortunately never saw it performed in his lifetime. In fact, the script would spend the next century lost in a drawer. The play was discovered among other writings of Twain in 2002 and has been adapted by playwright David Ives.
The plot, characters, and dialogue of Is He Dead? contain all of Twain's trademark wit, slapstick humor, and keen ear for language. Jean-François Millet is a brilliant but unappreciated artist living outside Paris in 1846. Millet can't sell a painting to save his life (literally). Another factor adding to his financial woes is a large debt owed to a villainous art dealer who is intent on marrying Millet's girlfriend. As an artist's work is of high value only after his death, the painter fakes his death. With the help of three wacky, bohemian friends, the artist returns as his sister. True to tradition, wealth quickly follows, but how long can Millet keep up the façade? Millet must find a way to get out of a dress, return to life and marry his beloved.