Clarkston: A benefit reading for the Kenworthy

Join Moscow Art Theatre (Too) and the Kenworthy for cocktails, small bites, and a staged reading of CLARKSTON a new play by Samuel D. Hunter on May 28, at 7:00 PM. Written by Moscow native and 2014 MacArthur Foundation Fellow Samuel D. Hunter, CLARKSTON is a story about two young men struggling to find their way into an uncertain future. Meet Jake, a descendant of the explorer William Clark, who has recently been diagnosed with Huntington's disease; and Chris, who is searching for a way to use his degree in Post-Colonial Gender Studies to make a discernible contribution to society. Against the backdrop of an increasingly corporatized and dehumanized American West, these two young men attempt to join together to forge ahead into an uncertain future. Leavened with humor and compassion, Clarkston juxtaposes day-to-day existence with historical allusions and larger themes of faith and doubt. The reading will feature local artists Kelly Quinnett, Micheal Angelo Smith, Nick Eastman Pratt and will be directed by Dave Harlan. CLARKSTON will receive its world premiere with the Dallas Theater Center in December but this reading gives Palouse audiences a unique chance to experience the story prior to the production in Dallas. Hunter offered the script for this event because history in Moscow and relationship with the Kenworthy and MAT(T). Hunter grew up in Moscow and performed on the Kenworthy stage as a teen. Harlan directed Hunter's play A BRIGHT NEW BOISE in the Kenworthy in 2014. The evening will feature a social hour starting at 6:00 PM with small bites and a no-host bar with the reading beginning at 7:00 PM Tickets are $20 for general admission and are available at BookPeople of Moscow, starting May 4th or at the door the evening of the event. Samuel D. Hunter's (Playwright) plays include Pocatello, The Whale (Drama Desk Award, Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Play, GLAAD Media Award, Drama League and Outer Critics Circle nominations for Best Play) and A Bright New Boise (Obie Award, Drama Desk nomination for Best Play), and his newest plays include The Few, A Great Wilderness, Rest, and Pocatello. He is the recipient of a 2014 MacArthur "Genius Grant" Fellowship, a 2012 Whiting Writers Award, the 2013 Otis Guernsey New Voices Award, the 2011 Sky Cooper Prize, and the 2008 PONY/Lark Fellowship. His plays have been produced in New York at Playwrights Horizons, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, Clubbed Thumb and Page 73, and around the country at such theaters as Seattle Rep, Victory Gardens, South Coast Rep, Williamstown Theater Festival, The Old Globe, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Denver Center Theatre Company, Marin Theater Company, and elsewhere. His work has been developed at the O'Neill Playwrights Conference, the Ojai Playwrights Conference, Seven Devils, and PlayPenn. A published anthology of his work, including The Whale and A Bright New Boise, is available from TCG books. He is a member of New Dramatists, an Ensemble Playwright at Victory Gardens, a member of Partial Comfort Productions, and was a 2013 Resident Playwright at Arena Stage. A native of northern Idaho, Sam lives in NYC. He holds degrees in play writing from NYU, The Iowa Playwrights Workshop, and Juilliard.