DOVER-FOXCROFT — “Marx in Soho: A Play on History,” by the late teacher, activist and historian Howard Zinn, will be presented Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 29-30, at Center Theatre.

The one-man show will be performed and directed by Nick Willette, and produced by Trisha Smith in partnership with Center Theatre.

“I was looking for a way to pay tribute to Howard Zinn, who passed away last January, and Center Theatre wanted to try out the idea of having a ‘producing partner’ to further their mission of making the arts a part of life in central Maine,” said Trisha Smith, the show’s producer and member of Center Theatre’s Board of Directors.

“A one-man production featuring a local favorite seemed like the perfect fit,” she added.

Karl Marx’s works, especially “The Communist Manifesto” and “Das Kapital,” have influenced generations of economists, sociologists, politicians, students and tyrants. In “Marx in Soho,” the philosopher is returned briefly to earth to clear his name.

Zinn’s play gives Marx an opportunity to answer both his critics and those who took his ideas to extremes he never intended.

Events and people described are historically accurate, and Zinn’s characterizations of personality are as true to life as possible, although most of the dialogue is invented.

Willette, a Dover-Foxcroft native and Foxcroft Academy graduate, does technical set work for Portland Stage. He has appeared in a number of plays at Center Theatre, including the role of Henry David Thoreau’s brother in the two-act play “The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail.”

“Marx in Soho: A Play on History” will be presented at 2 p.m. on Jan. 29-30 at the theater at 20 East Main St. For tickets, $10, call 564-8943 or visit www.centertheatre.org.