Sam and Laura by Ron Powers is based on a true romantic incident in the life of young Sam Clemens, (Mark Twain) an encounter that forever influenced his dream-life and his literature. The playwright is the author of Mark Twain: A Life, a finalist for the 2005 National Book Critics Circle award in biography. Powers won the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism in 1973 for his critical writing as TV-radio-columnist for theChicago Sun-Times about television during 1972. In 1985, he won an Emmy Award for his work on CBS News Sunday Morning. Powers collaborated on the New York Times No. 1 bestseller, Flags of Our Fathers, which was produced as a movie with Clint Eastwood as director. He is on the Advisory Board of the Mark Twain Boyhood Home and Museum in Hannibal, Mo. This is his first play.

One of the leading roles, Laura, is played by newcomer, Lorri Bacon. Spencer Pogue plays her counterpart, C.O. Byrd. The other leading parts of Young Laura and Samuel Clemens showcase Raven Feather and Cyrus Crane. Other characters are played by Jaxson Oakley as Henry Clemens andMcKaylee Steen as Sam's wife, Olivia. Karon Wheat plays Laura's mother. Three actors play three roles each: Bob Brogdon, Hoyit Bacon, and Randall Hendricks; the latter two are also newcomers. Kai Sarwinski completes the cast in his first stage role as a young school boy. He participates in the Off Broadway Troupers. The play is directed by Suzanne Boles.