Festival 2012
TENNESSEE WILLIAMS AND MUSIC
Year Seven reminded us how important music was to Williams. In his seminal work, The Glass Menagerie, we're told, "In memory, everything seems to happen to music." So too with the dream-like Ten Blocks on the Camino Real, the seedy underscore of the French Quarter in Auto-da-Fé, and the ever-present storm brewing in Kingdom of Earth (an award-winning production from South Africa). We ushered in the birth of three new works: Gift of an Orange, based on a Williams short story; Autumn Song, Rilke and Williams poems set to music; and The Tennessee Williams Songbook, a jewel box of American standards from Williams’ plays.
The Glass Menagerie
This bittersweet Williams masterpiece stars critically acclaimed Alabama actress Celeste Burnum, and sets the tone for the Festival, where “in Memory, everything seems to happen to Music.”
The Tennessee Williams Songbook
The Festival culminates with a fabulous evening of American standards starring Broadway's Alison Fraser singing a memorable collection of songs found in Williams’ plays.
Gift of an Orange
Inspired by Tennessee Williams' short story "Gift of an Apple,” this daring new play with music features African drums, performed in a hidden garden. Content Warning: Full Male Nudity
Ten Blocks on the Camino Real
Masks, marionettes and a mariachi band enliven this impressionistic fantasy from Boston's Beau Jest Moving Theatre.
Auto-Da-Fé
Tennessee Williams' short play set in the French Quarter of New Orleans with Boston's Hot Tamale Dixieland Brass Band in a feather-studded pageant.
Kingdom of Earth
A rarely-performed Tennessee Williams play comes to Provincetown from Cape Town, South Africa.
Autumn Song
An evening of poems by Rainer Maria Rilke and Tennessee Williams set to inspiring music by Minneapolis composer George Maurer.
I Never Get Dressed Till After Dark on Sundays
The borders between comedy and tragedy dissolve in this hilarious nightmare of a rehearsal in which the actors complain to their Southern playwright.
Magnolia Jam
Mississippi Blues meets Cape Cod Cool when local and Festival musicians jam with Terry “Harmonica” Bean.
The South is Everywhere
A rare 45-minute film of the life and work of Tennessee Williams, as seen through the eyes of an Austrian-American filmmaker, aired on German Public TV on the day of the playwright's 100th birthday.
Williams 101
This 60-minute lesson on Tennessee Williams will brief you on the playwright, with handy insights about our lineup of performances.
This Property is Condemned
From Bergamo, Italy, a live blues band infuses four short Williams plays with an emotional musical landscape.