“The Magic of Seuss" at the German American Heritage Center -- October 17.
Tuesday, October 17, 6 p.m.
German American Heritage Center, 712 West Second Street, Davenport IA
A fast-paced romp through the most beloved and classic works of one of history's most prolific authors of children's literature, the one-man show The Magic of Seuss will take place at Davenport's German American Heritage Center on October 17, with favorite tales and rhymes coming to life through the gifts of Los Angeles-based professional entertainer Duffy Hudson.
Author and cartoonist Theodor Seuss Geisel adopted the name "Dr. Seuss" as an undergraduate at Dartmouth College and as a graduate student at Lincoln College, Oxford. He published his first children's book And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street in 1937, but during World War II, he took a brief hiatus from children's literature to illustrate political cartoons, also working in the animation and film departments of the United States Army. After the war, Geisel returned to writing children's books, writing acclaimed works such as If I Ran the Zoo (1950), Horton Hears a Who! (1955), The Cat in the Hat (1957), How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1957), Green Eggs & Ham (1960), One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish (1960), The Sneetches & Other Stories (1961), The Lorax (1971), The Butter Battle Book (1984), and Oh, the Places You'll Go! (1990).
Dr. Seuss published more than 60 books during his career, which have spawned numerous adaptations, including 11 television specials, five feature films, a Broadway musical, and four television series. His work includes many of the most popular children's books of all time, selling in excess of 600 million copies and being translated into more than 20 languages by the time of his passing in 1991. Over the years, Dr. Seuss received two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Children's Special for 1978's Halloween Is Grinch Night and Outstanding Animated Program for 1982's The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat. In 1984, he won a Pulitzer Prize Special Citation, and his birthday of March 2 has been adopted as the annual date for National Read Across America Day, an initiative focused on reading created by the National Education Association.
The creator and performer of The Magic of Dr. Seuss, Duffy Hudson is an actor, director, writer, teacher, and filmmaker. After graduating from college, he moved to New York City, where Hudson attended the Circle in the Square Theater School on Broadway. He has studied with such great directors as Michael Kahn, Nikos Psacharopoulos, and Nakita Mikhalkov (the Oscar-winning director of Burnt by the Sun), and over the course of his career, Hudson has directed more than 300 theatrical pieces, including, workshop productions with Brooke Shields; The The Three Sisters with Jessica Lange, Don Johnson, and Tatum O’Neal; and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? with Marlo Thomas. He also currently tours the U.S. with his one-man shows of Edgar Allan Poe, Albert Einstein, George Burns, and A Christmas Carol in addition to Dr. Seuss.
Duffy Hudson will present The Magic of Seuss at Davenport's German American Heritage Center on October 17, with snacks provided at the 6 p.m. performance. Admission is free for Heritage Center members and $5 for non-members, and more information and reservations are available by calling (563)322-8844 and visiting GAHC.org.
