On Thursday, November 5, 2009, theater luminaries celebrated the induction of Tennessee Williams into the American Poet’s Corner at The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in New York City. Participants in this evening of poetry, theater and reminiscences included Eli Wallach & Anne Jackson, Vanessa Redgrave, Marian Seldes, John Guare, Olympia Dukakis, John Patrick Shanley, Gregory Mosher, Sylvia Miles, William Jay Smith, Leenya Rideout, Jeremy Lawrence, Wyatt Prunty, Mitch Douglas, and current Cathedral Poet-in-Residence Charles F. Martin. Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theater Festival’s own David Kaplan, Patrick Falco, and Jef Hall-Flavin will host.

Join Williams protégé and Pulizer Prize-winning playwright Lanford Wilson for stories and insights over coffee. Hosted by Williams scholar Thomas Keith, this special event is open only to Sustaining Donors and Williams Pass holders.

This two-part event is the key to this year’s Festival theme: The Fight For Life. Williams’ 1941 short play, “The Case of the Crushed Petunias” will be presented in a local storefront, and preceded by a guided walking tour (with dramatic surprises) led by town historian, Richard Olson.

The salute is the creation of performance artist Jay Critchley, who will reconfigure World War II naval exercises -- columns of colored smoke, rocket flares, and boats gathered in the harbor -- to celebrate Tennessee Williams’ life and work. For the best view – and for an accompanying “21 blender salute” – join the audience at the Boatslip to see, sip, experience, and listen to a radio simulcast of this incredible event.

This dynamite short play inspired Williams to write “Sweet Bird of Youth.” Be among the first audiences ever to see this dramatic early version of a Williams classic, then stay for a showing of the award-winning 1962 film starring Paul Newman and Geraldine Paige.

Experience Williams up-close and personal… see our collection of short plays set in hotel rooms and boarding houses, performed in their natural environment. Eight plays will be performed in two separate series of showings by a nationwide collection of theater companies. Inventive staging, engaging plays. You’ll never look at a hotel room the same way again!

The world premiere production of a savage comedy by Williams, written late in his life. Tea-time turns into torment, and desperation into absurd laughter. From Boston’s acclaimed Beau Jest Moving Theater, celebrating its 25th Anniversary this year.

Broadway legend Betty Buckley stars in a concert reading of Williams’ last play on Broadway, "Clothes for a Summer Hotel," which focuses on the life of Zelda Fitzgerald. The original 1980 production was scored to music by composer Michael Valenti, who will play variations on that score during this Provincetown concert version.

Experience Williams up-close and personal… see our collection of short plays set in hotel rooms and boarding houses, performed in their natural environment. Eight plays will be performed in two separate series of showings by a nationwide collection of theater companies. Inventive staging, engaging plays. You’ll never look at a hotel room the same way again!

An aristocratic woman and a lower class man locked in a war of survival. Shades of Williams' Streetcar can be traced to Strindberg's cornerstone of Western drama. Watching a play in a foreign language turns you super-sensitive to the actors' behavior so as to understand what's going on. What better way to follow the real action -- soul murder -- coursing beneath the polite conversation of an impulsive rich girl and her father's amtitious servant? Strindberg's world masterpiece was Williams' inspiration. Let it be yours. The production comes from Norway and is performed in Norwegian (together with enough English to make the action clear.)

This New Zealand production is a stunning example of why Williams’ masterpiece has become a staple of the world repertory. Performed with New Zealand accents and a Maori actor as Stanley, don’t miss an extraordinary opportunity to see how this “Streetcar” traveled half-way around the world.

A harrowing fantasia on the painter Jackson Pollock’s demise. Williams dedicated this “secret script” to Japanese writer Yukio Mishima. Paintings are created and destroyed during the performance as an artist as the painter's faithless mistress rages while her meal ticket unravels.