Is He Dead? a newly discoverd Mark Twain play to open on Broadway in Oct 2007

It has been reported that producers Bob Boyett and Bill Haber will be presenting Mark Twain's newly discovered play Is He Dead? on Broadway on Oct 2007, at a theatre to be announced.

The 1898 play was discovered by scholar Shelley Fisher Fishkin in an archive of Mark Twain's papers held by the University of California. Bob Boyatt obtained the rights to the play in 2003 and the script was published later that year.

The script is being adapted for seventeen characters by David Ives, and will be directed by Michael Blakemore.

Boyett and Haber's production company, Boyett Ostar Productions, are currently represented on Broadway by Spamalot , The Drowsy Chaperone, Journey's End and Inherit The Wind. They are also presenting on Broadway Inherit The Wind, which is currently in previews.

David Ives Broadway cedits include adapting the script for Wonderful Town (2003 revival), writing the book for Dance of the Vampires (2002) and adapting Charles Dickens' novel David Copperfield for the stage - David Copperfield: Dreams and Nightmares (1996)

Michael Blakemore is the director of Terrence McNally's play Deuce, starring Angela Lansbury and Marian Seldes, which is to begin previews on Broadway on 16 Apr 2007. He is the winner of two Tony Awards, Best Direction of a Musical: Kiss Me, Kate (1999 revival) and Best Direction of a Play: Copenhagen (2000).