Show Business: Mississippi Stagecraft

It's a sight out of a Twain lover's imagined memory: a tiny, homemade Mississippi River raft, buoyant on blue oil-drums, flapping blue canvas greetings from its scanty half deck. On board is a troupe of traveling players who ply their ancient art along the river's muddy banks. But their message has a decidedly new twist. Funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Otrabanda Theatre Company—four actors, one actress, a crew-woman and, until recently, a dog named Sweenie—this summer is bringing frenetic, sometimes avant-garde drama to 30 Mississippi River...