Charles Dickens, Will Rogers, Mark Twain and the writers of Mark’s Gospel turned Byron Tidwell’s
entertainment career to a lifetime of exploration of the points where literature, history,
and the human experience meet.

Mark Twain

Browsing through a used book store as a teen, Byron found a book of transcriptions and
newspaper reports about Mark Twain’s stage performances.  Byron, at the time a fan of
comedian Bill Cosby, saw the Twain performances resembled Cosby’s stage
monologues.  Several years later through the Harwelden Arts Institute of Tulsa, Oklahoma,
Byron was able to adapt the Twain material into a one-man stage show presented at the
Tulsa Performing Arts Center and then toured in Oklahoma, Missouri, and Arkansas.  He revived
this tour in the 1990’s in California, performing in many civic venues and at Knott’s Berry Farm.

Charles Dickens

Mr. Magoo introduced Byron to Charles Dickens.  Seriously.  And thank
goodness Byron’s mother used that introduction to bring the real Dickens
writings to his attention.  Byron pored the much of the Dickens canon, even the
lesser known Little Dorritt and Dombey and Son.  Reading the stories out loud
brought new depths of meaning.  An episode of the television show Bonanza
showed a story of Charles Dickens presenting a reading in Virginia City.  
Byron became inspired and found transcripts of the Dickens readings, much
like Twains.  An opportunity to portray Charles Dickens (along with Ebenzer
Scrooge) in regional theater garnered rave reviews and inspired Byron to
follow through with his recreation of the Dickens readings.  He toured and performed

in the south and southwest sponsored by southern
California promoter The Storyteller.  Since he has performed multiple
productions of A Christmas Carol as Scrooge, directed many others, and
written his own adaptation based on the Dickens edits and presented at the
High Desert Playhouse in the Kaye Ballard Theatre.

Will Rogers

Byron Tidwell’s Dad resembled Will Rogers visage so much that young Byron
on a visit to the Rogers Memorial wondered why there were so many pictures
of his father.  The production Will Rogers At Home selected Byron many years
later to portray Will.  Byron had the incredible opportunity to spend months at
the Will Rogers Museum in Claremore, Oklahoma assisted by curator Reba
Collins and Will Rogers, Jr. researching volumes of written material and
viewing every available photo and frame of film.  This depth of research let to
his portrayal that amazed and startled many.  Folks who had known Rogers
personally commented Byron captured Will from his voice to his posture and
walk to his rambling, restless energy.

The Gospel According to Mark

Coming from a family of East Texas storytellers, Byron Tidwell certainly enjoys
a good yarn – hearing and telling.  He heard the English actor Alec McCowen
had taken a run at presenting The Gospel According to Mark and thought he
would try it, too, memorizing all 16 Chapters of 668 Verses.  Approaching it as
a storyteller relating the story around a campfire, Byron set aside imposed
theology and used the yarn-spinner’s bag of tricks to tell the tale.  This
approach proved providential.  He began his tour at St. Lawrence University in
upstate New York and traveled throughout New England performing at
Universities (M.I.T., Boston University, UCONN, more) and churches (St.
James, Skaneateles NY; Christ Church, Greenwich CT; Seaman’s Church,
NYC NY; more) traveled across the country appearing in Pennsylvania,
Virginia, North Carolina, Alabama, Illinois, Missouri, Texas, New Mexico, and
finally finishing his performances with numerous southern California
performances, finishing at UCLA.  With every performance, patrons came to
him thanking him for new insights – these were lay people, seminarians, and
professors of theology.  Byron felt truly blessed and attributes this to simply
telling the story and letting everything else flow through him.

Byron Tidwell at Home

Byron Tidwell has an extensive career as actor, theatrical director, award-
winning playwright, top market radio personality, Las Vegas casino master of
ceremonies, and teacher.  He lives in Las Vegas with his beautiful wife Gloria,
an outstanding actress and college professor.  His daughter Jen is also
involved in entertainment as a theatrical producer, Shakespeare scholar, and
lighting designer.  Daughter-in-law Jen is in retail management.  Byron has a
very happy home life.