The Women of Tennessee Symposium will be presented at 8 PM at the Kennedy Center's Eisenhower Theater. Four acclaimed actresses — Zoe Caldwell, Rosemary Harris, Estelle Parsons and Eva Marie Saint — will discuss their work in Williams' productions as well as their encounters with the playwright himself. CBS-TV's Charles Osgood will moderate the symposium.
In a statement Kennedy Center President Michael M. Kaiser said, "This is indeed a rare opportunity to bring together this impressive group of actors to share and reflect on their experience with the great work of Tennessee Williams. Their triumphs and disappointments with the work and the playwright will come though as first-hand account of this American master and his genius."
Zoe Caldwell won her first Tony Award for her work in Tennessee Williams' Slapstick Tragedy in 1966. She also won the coveted award for her performances in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Medea and Master Class. Rosemary Harris starred as Blanche Du Bois in Lincoln Center's 1973 revival of A Streetcar Named Desire. Harris has been nominated for nine Tonys; she won for her first nomination, 1966's The Lion in Winter. A veteran of stage and screen, Estelle Parson starred in Williams' The Seven Descents of Myrtle; she received a Tony nomination for that performance as well as nominations for her work in And Miss Reardon Drinks a Little, Miss Margarida's Way and Morning's at Seven. Eva Marie Saint starred in the Kennedy Center's 1973 production of Williams' Summer and Smoke.
Tennessee Williams Explored continues with Five by Tenn, April 21-May 9; A Streetcar Named Desire, May 8-30; A Distant Country Called Youth, June 11-13; Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, June 12-July 4; and The Glass Menagerie, July 17-Aug. 8.
Born Thomas Lanier Williams on March 26, 1911, Tennessee Williams became one of the most respected playwrights in American theatre history. His first bona fide Broadway success was the 1945 premiere of The Glass Menagerie. Two years later his production of A Streetcar Named Desire earned the young playwright both the Pulitzer Prize and the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award. Among his many other works are The Rose Tattoo, Camino Real, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Sweet Bird of Youth, Night of the Iguana, Orpheus Descending, Not About Nightingales and Suddenly, Last Summer. Williams died August 13, 1983. Tickets for Women of Tennessee Symposium are still available. For more information, visit www.kennedy-center.org.
