IN THE SPOTLIGHT | 'Is He Dead?'

Presented by: Biloxi Little Theatre

Where: 220 Lee St.

Show times/dates: 8 p.m. today and Saturday

Director: Cliff Thompson

Assistant director: Ryan Reinike

Stage manager: Hilliary Simmons

Set design/scenic art: Ryan Reinike

Starring: Sean Maurer, Ric Sawyer, Chet Landry, Joey Beaugez, Kim Nord, Kate Sawyer, Herbert Wilson, Melissa Reinike, Kathe Newcomb, Ryan Reinike

and Cliff Thompson

Synopsis: "Is He Dead?" Is a play by Mark Twain. Written by Twain in 1898, It was first published in print in 2003 after Twain scholar Shelley Fisher Fishkin read the manuscript in the archives of the Mark Twain Papers at the University of California at Berkeley. Fishkin later played a primary role in getting the play produced on Broadway. The play focuses on a fictional version of the great French painter Jean-François Millet as an impoverished artist in Barbizon, France, who, with the help of his colleagues, stages his death in order to increase the value of his paintings, and afterwards dresses as a woman to keep his secret safe. Combining elements of burlesque, farce and social satire, the comedy relies on such devices as cross-dressing, mistaken identities and romantic deceptions to tell its story, which raises questions about fame, greed and the value of art.

Tickets: $15 regular admission and $12 seniors, military and students

Reservations/details: 432-8543 or 4blt.org

This story was originally published March 17, 2016 at 5:58 PM with the headline "IN THE SPOTLIGHT | 'Is He Dead?' ."