More About Tennessee

Our production of Streetcar just closed so of course a week later I receive two theatre magazines in the mail with pieces profiling Tennessee Williams.

This month's issue of American Theater Magazine has some interesting articles on Tennesee Williams. There's a look at some current productions of Streetcar currently in production, as well as a really great look at the many, many writings of Mr. Williams. There's also a general overview and look at some of the early works of Mr. Williams.

This month's Theatre Bay Area magazine also has an interesting piece on Tennessee Williams, but it's not yet up on their website. I guess you'll just have to join TBA to read all about it (or, you know, ask me nicely to borrow the issue).

In other Williams news, it was just announced that James Franco has dropped out of his planned performance on the Broadway revival of Williams' Sweet Bird of Youth. This would have been Franco's first appearance on Broadway. Nicole Kidman is signed to play the female lead. The production is being directed by David Cromer (The House of Blue Leaves) and doesn't have a production date as of yet. A shame, I think Williams would have approved of James Franco. Or am I the only person who thinks this?

Talking Tennessee

One of the great things about my job is the research I get to do on authors and plays. My inner history geek rears her sexy head (history geeks are sexy, right?) and we just go online and spend hours reading. I have been looking forward to digging into Tennessee Williams because he lived in my hometown, St. Louis. A lot of his works are very midwestern feeling, and several plays take place in St. Louis. But it's funny, while I can reel off a ton of random facts about other local celebs, Tennessee Williams doesn't get a lot of press in St. Louis. In fact, this year there was a centennial celebration, but not for Williams. This is the year of the Vincentennial - the celebration of the 100th birthday of Vincent Price. I've not heard a peep about St. Louis' other famous son's 100th birthday. And, in doing the research, I'd guess it might be because Williams wasn't so terribly fond of the city.

Thomas Lanier Williams was born on March 26th, 1911 in Columbus, Mississippi. If you thought he was a bit younger, and born in 1914, it's because he lied on a form to enter a writing contest.

When Williams was 13 his family moved from small little Columbus to St. Louis, Missouri, and by all accounts, Williams was miserable there. They lived in a crowded, low-rent tenement, Williams was often picked on at school, and he just didn't like big city life much.

His father (Cornelius) was a shoe salesman and worked at a shoe factory in St. Louis; his mother (Edwina) a southern minister's daughter. His father was reported to drink and gamble heavily, and often got into big, violent, fights with Williams' mother.

Williams was close to his older sister, Rose, who was diagnosed as schizophrenic in her late teens. There was an incident in which Rose accused her father of making sexual advances toward her. As a result, Rose was institutionalized and eventually lobotomized, which completely incapacitated her. Williams cared for his sister for most of his life and was often tortured by the thought that maybe one day he might also lose his mind. Williams battled depression, alcoholism, and drug abuse for most of his adult life.

He hopped around universities and eventually graduated from the University of Iowa. Upon graduation he moved to New Orleans and took the name Tennessee. He was often referred to as "Tennessee" by his college frat brothers because of his southern drawl. Tennessee was his father's home state so it could have been a bit of an homage to his roots.

His first successful production was The Glass Menagerie, which opened in Chicago in December of 1944, and moved to New York in March of 1945. Menagerie won Williams the New York Drama Critics Circle Award.

A Streetcar Named Desire was Williams' biggest hit. The show opened in New York in 1947, with the then unknown Marlon Brando and Jessica Tandy in the show's starring roles. Williams actually wrote the role of Blanche with Tallulah Bankhead in mind, but Tandy impressed. When Streetcar opened on Broadway, the audience was stunned. There was silence as the curtain descended. And then the house erupted into applause for a full 30 minute ovation. The play's frank look at brutality and sexuality was revolutionary. The play went on to win Williams a Pulitzer Prize and then the team was contracted to create a film version.

For the film, director Elia Kazan went with Vivien Leigh, who played Blanche in the London production under director (and husband) Lawrence Olivier. Leigh got the film role, partly because the studios wanted a "name." Leigh, who was diagnosed as bipolar, wowed Tennessee Williams with her performance (he said that Leigh brought to the role "everything that I intended, and much that I had never dreamed of"), and later Leigh commented that playing Blanche "tipped me over into madness."

Williams had some success after Streetcar, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof came out in 1955, but nothing could come close to the success of Streetcar.

For further readings on Tennessee Williams and A Streetcar Named Desire, I suggest the following:

PBS

Imagi-Nation

Bookrags

Notable Biographies

Our next blog will focus more on Streetcar itself so stay tuned!

Happy 100th Birthday!

Today we celebrate the 100th birthday of Thomas Lanier Williams - you probably know him as Tennessee Williams though. He was born on this day 100 years ago in Columbus, Mississippi.

A brilliant writer who had a troubled adolescence, many of these earlier experiences informed his works. His father was abusive. His mother was often hysterical and overprotective. His older sister, Rose, was mentally ill, diagnosed with schizophrenia, and when she made claims that her father made sexual advances toward her, was lobotomized.

You can see echoes of Rose in The Glass Menagerie, his breakout play. Set in St. Louis (where the Williams family lived while Tennessee was in high school and college), it tells the tale of the Wingfield family, specifically the attempted set-up of fragile daughter, Laura, by her fading Southern belle mother Amanda. Tennessee has called the play a semi-autobiographical tale of himself, his mother, and his sister. The play was a success and moved to Broadway in 1945 where it won the NYC Critics Circle Award.

Williams then moved on to his second play, and arguably his greatest work - A Streetcar Named Desire. Tennessee won his second NYC Critics Circle Award and his first Pulitzer. The show was such a success that it, along with most of the cast, were transferred to a film version. It features the now famous and widely acknowledged master performance by Marlon Brando. It's also easy to argue that the fragile Blanche is another echo of his sister Rose and Brando's bullying abusive Stanley is an echo of Williams' father.

With Streetcar, Williams made himself financially secure, and established himself as one of the great American writers. He met and fell in love with Frank Merlo, who he remained with until Frank's early demise from lung cancer in 1961. Williams had battled depression for most of his life and the loss of his partner combined with an addiction to drugs sent him into a downward spiral. Tennessee passed away in 1983 after choking on the lid of an eyedrop bottle. He is buried in St. Louis.

His legacy, however, lives on in his writing. He continues to be one of the most produced playwrights in America and is certainly one of the greatest. Dragon will produce A Streetcar Named Desire this summer in his honor.

Some quotes from Tennessee Williams.

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Sources:

Gradesaver.com

How Books Got Their Titles

Wikipedia

PBS