Festival 2011
Double Exposure
Celebrating 100 years of Tennessee Williams
Our sixth year commemorated the centenary of Williams' birth. The thematic centerpiece was Williams' most autobiographical late play — Something Cloudy, Something Clear — which we presented in a tent on the beach with its companion piece written 40 years earlier, The Parade. We welcomed acclaimed avant-garde director Lee Breuer to Town Hall, where he experimented with Glass Guignol. Among other Centennial pleasures, such as the world premiere of Once in a Lifetime, were Williams short stories read by Broadway actors Michael Urie and Alison Fraser.
Something Cloudy, Something Clear
The thematic centerpiece of our Festival stars Tony-nominated actor Lou Liberatore in Tennessee Williams’ most autobiographical play. On the Provincetown dunes in 1940 and 1980, then and now exist at one time, in a shimmering mirage of memory, loss and love.
Once in a Lifetime
with SUNBURST, GREEN EYES, & TRAVELING COMPANION
In this unpublished, never-before-seen Williams play, two conservative Midwestern families on a summer road trip to New Mexico stop at a hotel. Experience Williams up-close and personal with four hotel plays.
Now the Cats with Jewelled Claws
A cocktail-laden lunch with Madge and Bea turns into a song-and-dance number. Complete with hustlers, motorcycles, and genteel ladies exploring the absurd art of seduction, this is Tennessee Williams at his experimental best.
Orpheus Descending
Last year’s sold-out success returns - in a brand new setting! Staged as a morality play in a Provincetown church, this Williams classic traces a boy-singer's descent into hell in the form of a small-town variety store. Irene Glezos returns with her heart-wrenching performance.
The Two-Character Play
“An unexpectedly marvelous, multi-faceted evening.” (London Daily Telegraph)
In this critically acclaimed London production, brother and sister find themselves in a decrepit theater, compelled to act out a play about a brother and sister. An autobiographical refraction, it’s Glass Menagerie meets Pirandello: illusion within illusion, where the artifice of past haunts the reality of present.
The Parade
The real-life account of Williams' impossible love affair with a young dancer during the summer of 1940 in Provincetown. A struggling 29 year old poet is on the verge of discovery, but will love ever be more than the sound of a grand parade in the distance?
South Pathetic
An out-of-work actor directs A Streetcar Named Desire in the worst community theater in the South. Don’t miss the award-winning comedian Jim David (Comedy Central, NBC) playing a head-spinning collection of Southern characters in an 80-minute, side-splitting tour-de-force about social misfits, starting over, and the need for theater.
Glass Guignol: A Master Class with Lee Breuer
A conversation about a remarkable Streetcar, then a live demonstration by way of The Glass Menagerie with Mabou Mines actors. At the Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theater Festival, we don’t just honor Tennessee Williams history, we make it. And you can be a witness to it. One night only, on the stage of Ptown’s historic Town Hall.
Dirty Shorts
Cap off your weekend with two bawdy short stories written by Tennessee Williams and read by Award-winning actors. These 1970's stories celebrate sexual fulfillment as political expression. Don't miss a side of Williams you never knew existed.
Williams Wrote Here
Board a trolley at Town Hall and be whisked away to view important sites where Tennessee Williams lived and wrote in Provincetown. Experience the present by visiting Tennessee's past. Actor Jeremy Lawrence will share inspiring anecdotes, poems, and excerpts from Willliams' letters in an unmatched Provincetown setting.