Beginning at 10 AM ET on Feb. 7 theatregoers will be able to purchase tickets to all of the events that comprise "Tennessee Williams Explored" by calling Instant Charge (202) 467-4600 or by visiting the Kennedy Center box office, 2700 F. Street, NW in Washington, D.C. Those outside of the D.C. area should call (800) 444-1324. Although performance schedules vary, most shows will play Tuesday-Saturday evenings at 8 PM with matinees on Saturdays and Sundays at 2:30 PM. Tickets range from $25-$75.
"Tennessee Williams Explores" kicks off May 8 with the Pulitzer Prize-winning A Streetcar Named Desire. Garry Hynes directs a cast that includes Patricia Clarkson as Blanche Du Bois, Brían F. O'Byrne as Mitch, Adam Rothenberg as Stanley and Amy Ryan as Stella. Streetcar will play through May 30.
Mark Lamos will helm Cat On a Hot Tin Roof, which will feature the talents of George Grizzard, Dana Ivey, Emily Skinner and Patrick Wilson. Cat On a Hot Tin Roof, which is also currently on Broadway with Ashley Judd and Jason Patric, will play the Kennedy Center June 12-July 4.
Academy Award winner Sally Field will head the cast of The Glass Menagerie, which runs July 17-Aug. 8. Gregory Mosher will direct the family drama set in 1939 St. Louis.
The Williams festival also includes Five by Tenn, an evening of five one-act plays starring Kathleen Chalfant and directed by Michael Kahn (April 21-May 9); A Distant Country Called Youth, a one-man show starring Richard Thomas that was adapted and directed by Steve Lawson based on early Williams letters (June 11-13); and Women of Tennessee, a symposium featuring some of Williams' great leading ladies (April 12). Zoe Caldwell, Rosemary Harris, Estelle Parson and Eva Marie Saint are scheduled to take part in the latter. *
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.
