Ghosts of the Civil War: Shades of Blue and Gray [A]

Join us with whispers from beyond the grave as we start our October with Ghosts of the Civil War. This special event is a one-hour and 20-minute presentation by Sara Showman (from the South) and Mark Dawidziak (from the North), including ghost stories from South Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, and Ohio (with a special section about Abraham Lincoln). Literary selections include pieces by Walt Whitman, Ohio native Ambrose Bierce, and Emily Dickinson.

*Sponsored by the Friends of the Milan-Berlin Public Library

About the Performers:

Sara Showman, the managing director and co-founder of the Largely Literary Theater Company, has been an actor for more than 45 years, appearing in college, children's, community, summer stock, small professional and Equity theater productions. A Kent State University graduate with a BFA in acting and directing, the Tennessee native also is a storyteller, performing fables, hero stories, animal stories, fairy tales, folk tales, spooky stories, myths and original stories. Her storytelling shows include She Stories (stories from around the world with with female heroes), Stories for the Ages (stories about what makes life great), L-O-V-E (stories about all kinds of love, plus the story of St. Valentine's Day and its customs), Tales from the Emerald Isle (stories from the "Shanakee" -- or ""storyteller"), Things That Go Bump in the Night (a spooky celebration in story and song) and The Holly and the Ivy: Why We Do What We Do at Christmas (the stories behind our Christmas traditions). She played 15 roles in the Largely Literary production of A Christmas Carol. She performs "Alone," "The Bells" and "The Masque of the Red Death" in The Tell-Tale Play and "Eve's Diary," among other selections, in Twain By Two. She also has written such Largely Literary shows as Monsters Are Universal, Under the Skull and Crossbones: A Pirate's Life for Me, Suspense On Screen: Presenting Alfred Hitchcock and Force of Nature.

Mark Dawidziak plays Mark Twain and Charles Dickens in various Largely Literary productions, in addition to directing many of the company's shows. He also played Dashiell Hammett in the troupe's The Mystery of Dashiell Hammett, a play he wrote for the National Endowment's Big Read program. He is the author or editor of 25 books, including three acclaimed studies of landmark television series: The Columbo Phile, The Night Stalker Companion and Everything I Need to Know I Learned in The Twilight Zone. His most recent books are The Shawshank Redemption Revealed: How One Story Keeps Hope Alive, a deep-dive look at the beloved film based on a Stephen King novella, and the Edgar, Agatha, Anthony and Ohioana-nominated biography A Mystery of Mysteries: The Death and Life of Edgar Allan Poe. He has been playing Twain on stage for 46 years. Also an internationally recognized Mark Twain scholar, his many books about the iconic American author include Mark My Words: Mark Twain on Writing, Mark Twain in Ohio and Mark Twain for Cat Lovers. He is at work on his sixth book about the iconic American writer. No less an authority than Ken Burns has said, "Nobody gets Mark Twain the way Mark Dawidziak does." Inducted into the Cleveland Journalism Hall of Fame in 2015, Dawidziak spent most of his 43-year journalism career as television, film or theater critic for such newspapers as the Akron Beacon Journal and Cleveland’s The Plain Dealer. He also was an adjunct faculty professor at Kent State University for more than ten years (2009-2020), teaching two classes each semester (Reviewing Film and Television and Vampires on Film and Television).