Dawidziak troupe provides play for Big Read

Mark Dawidziak and his Largely Literary Theater Company are writing and performing an original play about Dashiell Hammet as part of the Portage County Big Read events. There will be 44 other exciting events for families, adults, and children as part of the Big Read presented by Hiram College’s Lindsay-Crane Center for Writing and Literature, the Portage County District Library and Reed Memorial Library.

The Big Read community-based reading programs began January 5 and continue through February, 2009. The Big Read in Portage County will focus on Dashiell Hammett’s classic detective novel “The Maltese Falcon.”

The Mystery of Dashiell Hammett by the Largely Literary troupe will be at 7 p.m. February 7 at 7 p.m. in Hayden Auditorium at Hiram College.

Dashiell Hammett’s fifth and final novel, The Thin Man, was published in 1934. Although
he lived another 27 years, he never completed another major piece of writing. Written specially for Hiram College’s Big Read festival and staged as a vintage 1940s radio drama, the Largely Literary Theater Company’s one-hour play explains how Hammett all but invented the American detective story and explores the mystery of why he then abandoned it—why he stopped writing. It is one of literature’s greatest mysteries. Free copies of the Big Read book The Maltese Falcon will be given to the first 50 people at the play.

The Big Read gives communities the opportunity to come together to read, discuss, and celebrate selections from American and world literature. "The goal of the Big Read is to get people excited about reading," said Kirsten Parkinson, Hiram College associate professor of English and Big Read director. "Reading sparks the imagination and allows you to have adventures from the comfort of your own home or the local library."

The Big Read is an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts designed to restore reading to the center of American culture.

Other Portage County Big Read highlights include visits from contemporary mystery authors, a presentation of falcons and other live birds, local police discussing crime detection, and discussions of the book throughout the region. Three Portage County high schools will also be teaching the novel in conjunction with the Big Read events. A complete list of sponsored events is available online at http://www.hiram.edu/bigread/events.html.

Dawidziak of Cuyahoga Falls is the Plain Dealer television critic and former BJ critic