Wishful Thinking September 27-30, 2018 - Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theater Festival
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Wishful Thinking September 27–30, 2018 Plays by Tennessee Williams… The Rose Tattoo Talisman Roses Will Mr. Merriwether Return From Memphis? Some Problems for the Moose Lodge Steps Must Be Gentle …and Others Company by Samuel Beckett Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekhov Doña Rosita the Spinster by Federico García Lorca Plus: Menagerie of Angels The Snagglepuss Chronicles Tennessee Williams Institute Music, parties, classes, and more
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T WPTOWN.ORG 3
“Everybody is nothing
until you love them.”
- Tennessee Williams
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4 PROVINCETOWN TENNESSEE WILLIAMS THEATER FESTIVAL 2018
Wishful Thinking
Welcome to the 13th Annual Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theater Festival!
Our theme this year is “Wishful Thinking.” It seems as if we are all
waiting for something to happen. While “Wishful Thinking” speaks to our
present condition as Americans living in an unstable world, it also reflects
the plays we are presenting this year by Tennessee Williams, Anton Chekhov
(who wrote Uncle Vanya in 1898, just as Russia was entering its explosive,
revolutionary new century), and Federico García Lorca (whose Doña Rosita
the Spinster was written in 1935 just before the Spanish Civil War). It’s also
the year where every play ends on a happy note, or hopeful enough to appear
happy in a year of “Wishful Thinking.”
We are excited to present the world premiere of Williams’ Talisman Roses,
a fascinating one-act play that David Kaplan, the Festival’s curator, looked for
and found in a manila folder in Texas. Also among this year’s presentations
from the imagination of Tennessee Williams are the seldom produced The
Rose Tattoo, to be performed at Fishermen Hall, and lesser known plays such
as Will Mr. Merriwether Return From Memphis? and Some Problems for the
Moose Lodge. We look forward to seeing you at these productions plus
others — and the many great Festival parties and events — during your stay in
Provincetown!
Whether this is a return visit or your first trip to Provincetown, we
welcome every one of you. We cherish your openness to new ideas and Welcome �����������������������������������������������������������������5
experiences. With your ongoing support, we will continue to bring world
Sponsors�������������������������������������������������������������������7
class theater to the tip of Cape Cod during the final weekend of September.
We can never thank enough our sponsors and the many contributing Housing Partners ���������������������������������������������������8
artists — who arrive in Provincetown from Philadelphia, Pensacola, Ann
Donors ���������������������������������������������������������������������9
Arbor, Ghana, South Africa, Texas, Los Angeles, and New York — enough.
Our festival is inspired by the breadth and depth of this collective effort Wishful Thinking���������������������������������������������������10
— audience, artists, volunteers, our tireless staff, and the Provincetown
Parties��������������������������������������������������������������������12
community — that comes together to celebrate the work and life of
Tennessee Williams. The Snagglepuss Chronicles �������������������������������14
Enjoy “Wishful Thinking”! Williams 101 / TWI �����������������������������������������������17
Thank you, Staff�������������������������������������������������������������������������18
Patrick Falco, President, Board of Directors Tickets & Passes�����������������������������������������������������21
Venue Map�������������������������������������������������������������22
The Board of Directors of the
Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theater Festival Schedule����������������������������������������������������������������23
Patrick Falco, President, Board of Directors / Friendship, ME Pass Tracking���������������������������������������������������������24
Jon Hansen, Treasurer / East Brunswick, NJ The Rose Tattoo�����������������������������������������������������25
Marcy Feller, Clerk / Provincetown, MA
Deborah Bowles / Washington, DC • Albert Carey, Jr. / Provincetown, MA Talisman Roses�����������������������������������������������������27
Charlene A. Donaghy / Torrington, CT • Jef Hall-Flavin / Provincetown, MA Will Mr. Merriwether Return from Memphis?�����29
David Kaplan / New York, NY • Jim Mauro / Provincetown, MA
Some Problems for the Moose Lodge���������������31
Joe Paprzycki / Truro, MA • Ronn Smith / Cambridge, MA
Micki Beth Stiller / Montgomery, AL Doña Rosita the Spinster�������������������������������������33
Uncle Vanya�����������������������������������������������������������35
SPECIAL THANKS TO: Alex Fraser John Pigott
Robert Barret Dan Hall-Flavin Marian Roth Company���������������������������������������������������������������37
Mary Baynard Jo Hay KJ Shows
Menagerie of Angels�������������������������������������������39
Patricia Brooks Michael Kellerman Jerry Stacy
David Burbank Loren King Tufts University Since We Last Met / In Memoriam �����������������������41
Michael Cunningham Tony Kushner Michael Valenti
Emerson College Patrick Lamerson Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theatre TENN Award / Save the Date���������������������������������42
Pastor James Cox Ian Leahy Jo Williams
Gary Donaghy Methodist Church David DW Withrow
Thrift Store
Cover photo by Ride Hamilton
John Dowd
T WPTOWN.ORG 5
6 PROVINCETOWN TENNESSEE WILLIAMS THEATER FESTIVAL 2018
SPONSORS
PR ESENTING SPONSOR
MAJOR
STA R
PRODUCTION
EVENT
CO-SPONSORS
p r o vin c e to wn
ART GUIDE
MEDI A
PHILANTHROPIC
Funded in part
by Provincetown Behind every business or foundation
Tourism Fund are the real people who champion
Funded in part by the Provincetown Tennessee
the Cape Cod 5 Williams Theater Festival.
Foundation
Please patronize these generous
Charles Sumner Bird Foundation
businesses, without whom the
Free Lunch Foundation
Festival wouldn’t be possible.
Gramercy Park Foundation
Major Sponsors Jim Farley and Tom Boland of Far Land Provisions at the Tennessee Williams
Annual Dinner. Photo by Dan McKeon.
SPONSORS
T WPTOWN.ORG 77
HOUSING PARTNERS
W E C OU L DN ’ T D O I T W I T HOU T YOU !
Over 100 artists and support staff have come to Provincetown from near and
far. All their housing is donated by the generous souls of Provincetown. Thank
you to the following places and people who opened their doors to our hard- Cape Cod comfort food
Overlooking The Bay
working artists and staff.
Thank you to:
8 Dyer Hotel Mark Gallant Revere Guest House
Admiral’s Landing & Michael Ohagan Fermin Rojas & Jay they'll be watching
Scott Allegretti Gaslamp Inn Kubesch so put on a show
Anchor Inn The Gifford House Seaglass Inn & Spa
AWOL Hotel Jef & Dan Hall-Flavin Carol Sherry
Benchmark Inn Harbor Hotel ShireMax Inn
Boatslip Beach Club Brian Hauserman Somerset House Inn
Reed Boland & Kent Karosen Surfside Hotel and Suites
The Bradford House & Motel Honeypot Hives Watermark Inn
David Brown Howard’s End White Porch Inn
& Douglas Spencer The Inn at Cook Street White Wind Inn
Roberto Caldera Paul Kelly & Ed Dusek Gail Williams
Cape Colony Inn Land’s End Inn & Dawn McCall
The Captain’s House Ian Leahy & Jennifer Cabral Robert Winter
Martin Carey Jim Mauro & David Datz & Andrew Cordonnier
Carpe Diem Guesthouse & Spa Shawn Nightingale Mark Wisneski
Charm Provincetown Pilgrim House & Ron Kollen
John Cliggott Prince Albert Guest House
& Annemette Cliggott-Perlt The Provincetown Hotel … and all those
Crews Quarters at Gabriel’s who donated after
Joe DeMartino Queen Vic Guest House August 15, 2018
6 9 8 CO M M E RC I A L S T R E E T / / 5 0 8 . 4 8 7. 1 7 1 1 / / H A R B O R H OT E L PTOW N . CO M
#divein
8 PROVINCETOWN TENNESSEE WILLIAMS THEATER FESTIVAL 2018
SUSTAINING DONORS FESTIVAL SUPPORTERS
DONORS
$10,000 - $25,000 $250 - $499
Albert Carey, Jr. Sharon Balmforth
Roxanne Kupfer Joe Barilla
Jack Brent
$5,000 - $9,999
Jo & Art Brisbane
Joseph Agostini
Richard Beshore
Deborah Bowles
& Richard Currie
& Derik Burgess
Joe DeMartino
Marcy Feller
Charlene Donaghy
& Gabby Hanna
Bolton Harris
Jon & Jody Hansen
& Paul Breen
Laura & Micki
Margaret Jablonski
Beth Stiller Festival Board member and Gala Committee Chair Jim Mauro (center) celebrates with (from left) Ryan McCarthy, Joe DeMartino,
Michele Kaminski Michael Ryan, and Johnathon Fitch Van Kok at the Tennessee Williams Annual Dinner. Photo by Dan McKeon.
Jade & David Walsh
Michael Kidd
Geoff Woolley
& Ken Sloan Up to $99
Family Fund
Ron Kollen Amazon Smile Foundation
Patricia Meads Geraldine Battistoli
$2,500 - $4,999
Karen Melikian David Bishop
Patrick Falco
Austin O’Toole Clare Brauch
Dan & Jef Hall-Flavin
Jeff Peters Jim Brosseau
Bolton Harris
Amanda Plummer Debra Carr
& Paul Breen
Fermin Rojas John Chamberlin
Neil Korpinen
& Jay Kubesch Janice Collins
James Mauro
Alan Ruscoe Donna Coons
& David Datz
Richard Salmon Michael Cross
Joseph Paprzycki
William N. Van Alstine Brenda Currin
& Gus Orr, III Guest of Honor Amanda Plummer with Festival Board member Jon Hansen and Jody Hansen
Edgar Waaler Gerri Demitrio
Anonymous at the Tennessee Williams Annual Dinner. Photo by Dan McKeon.
Bradford House & Motel Stephen Desroches
David & Shirley Donohue THANK YOU TO OUR DONORS
$1,000 – $2,499
$100 -$249 Phil Franchin
Aetna Foundation Our goal, simply put: to advance the spirit of Tennessee
Aerie House & Beach Club Richard Francis
Dr. Scott Allegretti Williams through performance. Since 2006, when a small
Kenneth Abert Timothy Gleason
Kevin Burns & group of champions sat around a table and agreed to
Tish Bachmann Justin Hoffman
Tom Markessinis create a Tennessee Williams Festival in Provincetown,
Thomas & Laurine Bow Jacqueline Kroschwitz
John DeCiccio philanthropy has been the wind in our sails, powering
Stewart Clifford Andrew Long
Terrence Meck us forward. Every donation is precious to the Festival
Barbara Cohen Joan Cobb Marsh
Kathleen Pigott — it’s the choice to give that inspires us. Thank you to
Robert Daniels Robert Martin
Alix Ritchie the individuals, organizations, and businesses who have
Jean Marc De Silva Dennis McCrum
& Marty Davis pledged their support with unrestricted financial gifts
Mary DeAngelis David McMullen
Ronn Smith that keep our Festival thriving.
Caleb Eigsti Samantha O’Brien
David Zimkowski
Timothy Famulare Gail Phaneuf
Paul Gerardi Davis Robinson CREATE A LASTING LEGACY
$500 - $999
Gary Hammer Laura Rood
Tom Boland You hold the key to preserving and expanding the legacy
Harbor Lounge, Inc. Joan Savoy
& Jim Farley of Tennessee Williams through the performance of his
Kathy Hardy Laura Shabott
Michael Carvalho works. As the Festival enters its 13th year, consider a
Kirk Jackson Jeanne Stone
Mark & Sappho Charney bequest or estate gift to the Provincetown Tennessee
Nancy Jones Anne Stott
Craig Combs Williams Theater Festival, Inc., Provincetown, MA
Ian Leahy Steven Thunberg
& Charles Roberts (Federal Tax ID No. 26-1962915).
& Jennifer Cabral Darlene Van Alstyne
Kent Flandro
Judith Leahy & Melinda Ancillo
Phillip Hanvy
Mary Kay Liotta THE POWER OF YOUR DONATION
Spencer Keasey
B.V. Marshall Donations of Art Ticket sales cover only 40% of our total costs. Donations
& Charles Shaw
Barbara McGoldrick John Dowd
Michael Kellerman are truly the engine of the Festival. Whether large or
Clyde Mellert Jo Hay
& Nick Ashburn small, it’s never too late to make a donation.
Steven Moskowitz Marian Roth
Ruth Koffman
Rose Provan KJ Shows
Warren Kohlman
Ricardo Rodriguez John Williams HOW TO DONATE
Jeanne Leszcynski
Jill Rutherford In Person at the Box Of fice: Sept 26 – 30
& Diane DiCarlo
Michael Ryan … and all those By Phone: 866.789.TENN
Jeff Peters
Sam Sewell who donated after
Clarice Roseen By Mail: PO Box 1721, Provincetown, MA 02657
Carol Sherry August 13, 2018
Arnold J Rubin
William Smith
Francine Segal
Mimi Turque Marre
Joel Whitehead
Lorna Wilkerson
Sewall Whittemore
Dino Yehle
Visit twptown.org
for more information. Donate Online: twptown.org
Anonymous
T WPTOWN.ORG 9
I
s wishful thinking delusional? Is it a survival tactic?
A form of faith? An eventual tragedy (when reality
collides with dreams)? Is it self-deceit? Is hoping for
the best — or for the better — misguided? The plays
presented this year at the Tennessee Williams Festival in
Provincetown draw on all these aspects of wishful thinking,
prompted by waiting for something to happen — often,
waiting for someone to arrive.
That seems to me to be the situation we live with in
2018. We, you and I, are waiting for something to happen.
Impeachment? Riots? A coup d’état? Civil war? Revolution?
Revelation? To despair is premature, unless one demands
certainty. And certainty is not to be had, not really, which
implies that despair is even more of a delusion than
wishful thinking.
When Tom Williams, not yet Tennessee, wrote his short
play Talisman Roses in 1937, he imagined a young woman
freed from an asylum and restored to sanity. Williams’ sister
Rose was in an asylum at the time. Was it wishful thinking
on his part that Rose would be released and her sanity
restored? As Williams revised his play his conclusion grew
increasingly inconclusive so that, for an insightful audience,
hope is balanced by doubt.
In Tennessee Williams’ high-spirited Will Mr.
Merriwether Return from Memphis?, together with music,
songs, and dances along a vaudeville
runway, séances dot the action of the
play. The apparitions conjured are as
restless as those who call them forth.
The living and the dead all hope for a
The plays of the 13th Annual Festival better future, in the afterworld or while
Talisman Roses (1937) The Rose Tattoo (1951) alive. In Williams’ Some Problems for
Some Problems for the Moose Lodge (1980) the Moose Lodge, the McCorkle family,
Will Mr. Merriwether Return from Memphis? (1969)
fresh home from a funeral, has much to
Steps Must Be Gentle (1980) — all by Tennessee Williams
resolve: guilt, anger, and fear. Yet all these
Uncle Vanya (1898) — by Anton Chekhov
Doña Rosita la Soltera (1935) — by Federico García Lorca go unresolved, and as more problems
Company (1979) — by Samuel Beckett heap on, all issues wait to be solved at the
fraternal Moose Lodge.
In late December 1944, as American troops advanced
in Asia, Nazi troops penetrated behind American lines
in Europe, a setback to hopes that the war to end fascism
would conclude successfully and soon. Tennessee Williams
was in Chicago refining The Glass Menagerie for the play’s
Broadway premiere. Years later Williams spoke of being
seized in Chicago by a vision of a woman sitting in a
chair in the moonlight waiting for a man who will never
arrive. Out of that vision, A Streetcar Named Desire arrived
on Broadway in 1947. The first title for the play was Blanche’s
Chair in the Moon, but in Streetcar Blanche sits waiting by
the light of birthday candles, sandwiched between her sister
and her mocking brother-in-law. When her someone does
arrive, disaster follows.
Top: Irene Glezos in The Rose Tattoo (photo by Alanna Hanly).
Middle: The Penitent Magdalene, Georges de la Tour, 1640.
Bottom: WWII British troops visit Murphy radio in 1942 (Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies).
10 PROVINCETOWN TENNESSEE WILLIAMS THEATER FESTIVAL 2018The woman waiting for someone who will never arrive remains scattered). Inexplicably, the voice of Hart Crane’s
surfaces in Williams’ The Rose Tattoo, written in 1951. As mother, Grace, reaches to the bed of the ocean. Fantasy?
Serafina waits for her husband and dusk falls, “expectancy Memory? Solace? Torment? Williams offers the possibility
shines in her eyes.” From that expectancy a drama of of all these. Is it his mother’s name, or the state of grace that
resurrection unfolds. Hart Crane calls out for at the end?
Other than the circumstances of his own life, where did The visionary Spanish poet and playwright Federico García
Williams get the idea that waiting could be as dramatic as Lorca shares the insight that wishful thinking in the face
action? Two years before his death in 1983, in a conversation of daily life could be willful delusion. Lorca also passes on
published in The Paris Review, Williams responded the cruelty of wishful thinking — and its beauty. In Lorca’s
emphatically “What writers influenced me as a young man? final completed play, Doña Rosita, a child-like woman waits
Chekhov! As a dramatist? Chekhov! As a story writer? twenty-five years for someone who will never arrive. “Hope,”
Chekhov!” In 2018, watching Anton Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya, Rosita confesses, “pursued me like a wolf.” Even though she
written in Russia in 1898, we might fall under Chekhov’s tried to keep hope off her throat, she could not. Would not.
influence, too. With humor and grace, Chekhov proposes that The rosa mutábile is Lorca’s mirror for what happens to
wishful thinking is the heroism of living in the here and now. wishful thinking over time: a hopeful red rosebud opens out
There was an earlier play by Chekhov with more or less the into a full-blown coral-colored blossom, then withers to white
same characters, The Wood Demon, written in 1889, in which and drops its petals to the ground. The “talisman roses” of
Vanya kills himself. In the rewrite nine years later, Vanya is Williams’ play were a trademark brand, orange-yellow,
left to live. A future offers at least the possibility of wishful popular in the 1930s for bridal bouquets. The rose tattoo on
thinking. As the 1898 version ends, Vanya’s niece urges him Serafina’s chest burns like fire, and Rose, of course, was the
to think of life even after death: “We shall hear the angels. We name of Williams’ sister. Roses, the romantic image of
shall see heaven shining like a jewel. We shall see all evil and vulnerable hopes and consequent loss (because old-fashioned
all our pain sink away in the great compassion that shall roses shatter after they bloom), are tossed throughout our
enfold the world.” season: autumn roses are presented as a loving tribute in
Meanwhile, life on earth goes on: the rattle of the watchman Uncle Vanya, and in Beckett’s Company the reclining body
can be heard in the garden, somewhere someone can be heard overhears: “Sometimes you turn your head and look out
playing the guitar, a cranky old woman writes notes in a through a rose-red pane. You press your little nose against
political pamphlet, another old woman knits a sock. the pane and all without is rosy.” Wishful thinking.
The Irish-born Samuel Beckett also shares Chekhov’s vision
of life as the heroism and humor of unsatisfied expectancy. Meanwhile, we’re waiting.
Beckett’s drama of wishful thinking, Waiting for Godot, sets
two men at a crossroads waiting for someone who does not
arrive. In Company, a novella Beckett wrote three decades after
“Everywhere the people seem to be waiting for
Godot, a body lies prone, perhaps between life and death. Or is the next cataclysm to strike them. They are not
the body prone between sleeping and waking? The body hears panicky, perhaps not even frightened, but they
voices. Are the voices fantasies? Memories? Other people? are waiting for it to happen …”
False solace? True solace?
Williams’ Steps Must Be Gentle features a similar body: the Tennessee Williams “A Writer’s Quest for a Parnassus”
poet Hart Crane, who committed suicide by leaping into the The New York Times, August 13, 1950
sea. Williams imagines the poet at the bottom of the Gulf of
Mexico (at the spot where Williams said he wanted his own DAVID KAPLAN
Left: Journalists in the White House press room watch President Richard Nixon announce his resignation on August 8, 1974 (ABC file photo).
Right: Election night, November 8, 2016 (Todd Heisler/The New York Times).
T WPTOWN.ORG 11THE MIXERS OPENING PARTY: Pretty in Ink
PARTIES
At the Tennessee Williams Festival, we pour something refreshing onto
those dry post-show Q&A sessions by moving them out of the theater
and into a local watering hole. Come and join us all around town to talk
face-to-face with the artists about the shows you’ve seen.
Mixers are free and open to the public with complimentary
appetizers and a cash bar.
Premiere Mixer
with actors from
Talisman Roses and Some Problems for the Moose Lodge
Thursday Sept 27, 5:00 – 6:30 pm
Governor Bradford | 312 Commercial St.
Memphis Rose Mixer
with actors from
The Rose Tattoo and
Will Mr. Merriwether Return From Memphis?
Friday Sept 28, 5:00 – 6:30 pm Thursday Sept 27, 10:00 pm
Shipwreck Lounge | 10 Carver St. The Pilgrim House
336 Commercial St.
Complimentary Appetizers | Cash Bar
Worldwide Mixer
$10 | Free for pass-holders
with actors from
Uncle Vanya and Company
Kick off the Festival in style by joining us at The Pilgrim House. At our Pretty in
Saturday Sept 29, 5:00 – 6:30 pm
Ink party, named in honor of The Rose Tattoo, we celebrate the indelible ways
Harbor Lounge | 359 Commercial St.
that art stays with us. Come prepared to show off your tattoos at the bar, in the
lounge, or on the dance floor. We’ll be rekindling acquaintances and making
new ones as we mingle with artists, staff, fellow theatergoers, and colorful
types from all over.
DONOR EVENTS
Generous donors make the CLOSING PARTY: Wishful Thinking
Festival possible. If you’ve
purchased a Carte Blanche
pass or donate at the sustaining
level, you’ll enjoy meeting your
fellow contributors in stylish
Provincetown settings.
Donor Cocktail Party Cool your heels in the midst of a delightfully
Friday Sept 28, 5:00 - 6:30 pm busy day two of the Festival, and recharge
White Wind Inn with a festive cocktail in a friendly place.
174 Commercial St. Take a break to digest what you’re seeing
Carte Blanche & on stage, and discuss this year’s shows
Sustaining Donors Only with other donors and Festival stars at this Sunday Sept 30, 8:00 - 10:00 pm
exclusive event to welcome in the weekend. The Boatslip
161 Commercial St.
Donor Wine Tasting After your third day of Festival excitement, take Food from Far Land Provisions | Cash Bar | Music by George Maurer
Saturday Sept 29, 5:00 - 6:30 pm the time to downshift and relax with us, glass $15 | Free for pass-holders
Bowersock Gallery in hand. This exclusive donor tasting features
373 Commercial St. Fleur du Cap wines from Stellenbosch and We wish this could last forever. But before we think of the future, let’s celebrate
Carte Blanche & plenty of colorful conversation. Swap stories, a job well done at this year’s Festival. Relive the fun of the past four days and
Sustaining Donors Only reflect on the shows you’ve seen thus far, relax with good company and music on the Boatslip’s expansive deck, with
and let a few choice bottles take you around hearty fare from Far Land Provisions. As we award the Festival volunteers, look
the world. out to sea with us and raise your glass in a toast: to great plays in a great place.
12 PROVINCETOWN TENNESSEE WILLIAMS THEATER FESTIVAL 2018Proud Supporter of the Provincetown
Tennessee Williams Theater Festival
EXCEPTIONAL PROPERTIES • EXCEPTIONAL SERVICE
508.487.9550
406 Commercial St
Provincetown, MA
SALES AND RENTALS
www.patshultz.com
Thanks for Working together for a more
inclusive future. Learn more at
keeping td.com/thereadycommitment.
the arts
alive in our
community.
Member FDIC, TD Bank, N.A.
T WPTOWN.ORG 1314 PROVINCETOWN TENNESSEE WILLIAMS THEATER FESTIVAL 2018
T he TW Festival honors Williams by
presenting his classic and undiscovered
plays, the work of his peers, and new work
the orange-colored Snaggletooth on The Quick
Draw McGraw Show. A few months later, pink
and renamed, he was in the supporting cast
inspired by Williams’ creative vision worldwide. for Augie Doggie & Doggie Daddy. By 1961,
In January of this year, the spirit of Tennessee Snagglepuss was a regular on The Yogi Bear
Williams took the shape of a pink mountain lion Show, featured in 32 episodes that have been
in Exit Stage Left: The Snagglepuss Chronicles, a shown on syndicated television ever since. The
six-part DC Comics miniseries. The festival is Snagglepuss voice, developed by Daws Butler,
presenting a staged reading of the comic. was based on Bert Lahr’s Cowardly Lion in The
Snagglepuss, the hero of Saturday morning Wizard of Oz, and a Snagglepuss catchphrase,
children’s cartoons fifty years ago, is now “Heavens to Murgatroyd!” was first said by
subpoenaed by writer Mark Russell, as drawn Lahr in another film, Meet the People (1944).
by Mike Feehan, to testify before a committee of When Snagglepuss endorsed Kellogg’s cereal on THE SNAGGLEPUSS CHRONICLES
the House of Representatives intent on purging television commercials, Bert Lahr sued, and the by Mark Russell
what they consider un-American activities, from words “Snagglepuss voice by Daws Butler” were directed by Brenna Geffers
homosexuality to nuclear disarmament. added to the credits, making Butler one of the
When the committee asks if Snagglepuss first voice artists to be publicly credited.
understands the importance of his testimony The Snagglepuss Chronicles reading is LIVE COMIC BOOK
he replies: “I only know that a nation must either performed by the Die-Cast ensemble from Hanna-Barbera’s Saturday morning cartoon
conquer its fears or become them… You’re right that Philadelphia and stars of the 2018 festival, character speaks truth to power, reborn as a
this hearing is important. But it’s not me who’s on directed by Brenna Geffers. Based upon droll 1950s Southern playwright in DC Com-
trial. It’s you.” the six issue comic series Exit Stage Left: ics’ new miniseries, presented as a staged
In homage to Williams, Russell and Feehan’s The Snagglepuss Chronicles by Mark Russell, reading with the stars of the Festival.
Snagglepuss enters the Chronicles on a red carpet published by DC Comics.
at the 1953 premiere of a Broadway play he’s
written titled “The Heart is a Kennel DIE-CAST
of Thieves.” Onstage, 1950s human Philadelphia, PA
Method actors wear dog snouts; in association with the TW Festival
backstage, the hippopotamus
producer sweats; across town,
Snagglepuss’ Cuban boyfriend, PERFORMANCES
Pablo, waits at the Stonewall Inn for Sunday Sept 30, 11:00 am – 12:15 pm
the closeted playwright to visit him.
The 1950s characters of the
Chronicles, real and cartoon,
include Marilyn Monroe, Dorothy
Parker, the Rosenbergs (briefly),
Lillian Hellman, Arthur Miller, FISHERMEN HALL
Joe DiMaggio, Richard Nixon, 12 Winslow Street | $45
Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev,
and Huckleberry Hound as a gay
Southern novelist in love with a
New York City police horse.
Witty, Mississippi-born and
dapper, Snagglepuss the successful
Broadway playwright charms his
public into believing his sunny
public persona is real – as did SPONSORED BY
Williams. The gap between façade The Pilgrim House
and true feelings is exploited by the Cape Air
government, painful for the writer
and those closest to him.
The original Snagglepuss,
a star in the roster of Hanna-
Barbera animated cartoon
characters, appeared in 1959 as
T WPTOWN.ORG 15ENJOY THE VIEW
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16 PROVINCETOWN TENNESSEE WILLIAMS THEATER FESTIVAL 2018In Williams 101, you’ll learn the basics in a fast, funny, and moving 90
minutes: how Williams’ four summers in Provincetown helped launch
his most famous plays. How his fame, in Williams’ view, became a
catastrophe. How his friends and lovers supported and thwarted him,
how his public failures and spectacular Hollywood successes gave WILLIAMS 101
impetus to the daring of his later work that the Festival champions.
A lot of what you might want to know about Tennessee Williams, but
were afraid to ask, will be answered at Williams 101, even if you don’t
ask, by your hosts: Patricia Navarra (a bridesmaid in the original Tony
n’ Tina’s Wedding, now a professor at Hofstra University) and Kate WILLIAMS 101
Mendeloff (who has directed three times for the Festival). They’ll share with hosts
the skinny on how a shy boy from a small town in Mississippi grew Patricia Navarra and Katherine Mendeloff
into a giant of world theater, then was cast off as a pariah by New York and Festival guest artists
critics. Mendeloff, who is directing Anton Chekhov’s play Uncle Vanya
this season, will prove Williams’ connections to the Russians! Festival Thursday Sept 27, 11:00 am – 12:30 pm
artists drop in at every session to share their own understanding of Friday Sept 28, 10:30 am – 12:00 pm
Williams’ power and enduring importance. Saturday Sept 29, 10:00 am – 11:30 am
Tennessee Willliams circa 1941. Billy Rose Theater Collection
PILGRIM MONUMENT
1 High Pole Hill Road | $15
TWI: SPONSORED BY
Provincetown Dental Arts
Provincetown Pilgrim Monument & Museum
T H E T E N N E SSE E W I L L I A MS I NST I T U T E
Now in its seventh year, TWI is a graduate and doctoral level symposium
offered annually by the Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theater
Festival. The mission of TWI is to offer new and expansive approaches
to the plays of Tennessee Williams for those who will shape his
reputation in the future: up-and-coming directors, teachers, critics,
scholars, designers, dramaturgs, producers, playwrights, and actors.
The primary focus of TWI is on live performance — participants analyze
and discuss Williams’ plays and then experience them in Festival
productions, discovering where meaning unfolds in moments of
action and stagecraft. Emphasis is placed on the overtly theatrical
elements found consistently in Williams’ plays; the unique aesthetic Scene from Antony & Cleopatra Part 2 at the National Theatre of Ghana in Accra, May 2018. Photo by Saul Mettle.
of Williams’ late work in content and performance; and the ongoing
evolution of Williams’ reputation in the critical and popular imagination.
International perspectives on Williams have been provided by Atsuro Hirota, the
The idea for TWI began with the Festival’s Producing Director, translator of Orpheus Descending into Japanese; British scholar Sue Tyrrell; Laurie
Charlene Donaghy. She developed it with Thomas Keith, Williams’ Sansom, former Artistic Director of the National Theatre of Scotland; and last year’s TC
editor for New Directions and the Literary Director for the Festival, Meltem of the National Theater of Turkey. This year Michael Paller returns, joined by
who also coordinates TWI, and in collaboration with Mark Charney, Leslie Stainton, author of the biography Lorca: A Dream of Life, to offer perspectives
Director of Texas Tech University’s School of Theatre and Dance. on García Lorca.
Participants apply for the TWI program, and those accepted receive three On Saturday at 10 am at the Provincetown Inn, David Kaplan will present a lecture
main lectures over the course of five days from leading scholars and demonstration of Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra (Part II), which he recently
specialists in the field such as Annette Saddik, David Savran, Michael Paller, showed in workshop at the National Theater of Ghana in Accra. Joining him will be
Thomas Mitchell, Felicia Hardison Londré, and Nicholas Moschovakis, as well South Africa’s Marcel Meyer (this lecture/demonstration is his only Festival appearance
as conversations with Festival artists, which have previously included Lee this year), Esther Scott (the Gypsy from the Ghanaian Ten Blocks), Robertson Dean
Breuer and Maude Mitchell, Everett Quinton, Fred Abrahamse and Marcel (Marc Antony), and other actors from last year’s Antony and Cleopatra (Part I).
Meyer, Travis Chamberlain, and Davis Robinson. Special Q&As, interviews,
and master classes have featured theater luminaries such as Eli Wallach Antony and Cleopatra (Part II) lecture/demo is open to the public with limited seating
and Anne Jackson, Lanford Wilson, Olympia Dukakis, John Guare, Amiri ($15 suggested donation). Ask for details at the Box Office.
Baraka, Brian Dennehy, Mitch Douglas, William Jay Smith, and John Lahr.
T WPTOWN.ORG 17STAFF
STAFF
Curator David Kaplan
Producing Director Charlene Donaghy
Executive Consultant Jef Hall-Flavin
Literary Director Thomas Keith
Marketing Manager Hunter Styles
Festival Administrator Ken Abert
Development Manager Kate Rourke
Community Engagement Mgr Melinda Ancillo
Producing Associate Keagan Blanchette
Artistic Associate Megan Nussle
SEASONAL STAFF
Production Manager Justin Hoffman
Audience Services Manager Jane Barish
Special Events Manager Katharine McManus
Assistant Production Manager Samantha O’Brien
Costume & Prop Manager Lefty Lucy
Box Office Manager Culhane Cole
Gift Shop Manager Bobby Johnson Beck
Volunteer Coordinator Gerri Demitrio
Scenic Supervisor JP Pizzuti
Sound Supervisor Sam Sewell
Electrics Supervisor Evyn Newton
Technical Venue Managers Mark Sternlof, Deirdre Benson
Pam Hobson, Leigh Mumford
Aryn Colonero, Rick Goble
Evey Connerty-Marin
David Orlando, Michael Costa
Development Assistant Kyle Blanchette
Hospitality Assistant Nick Robinette
Audience Services Coordinator Barbara Gall
Marketing Assistant Lucas Brooks
Scenic Assistant Lou Gerstle
Sound Assistant Eric Nickl
Electrics Assistant Aurelia Lyman
Costume & Props Assistant Kerry Richards
Transportation Assistant Terry Catalano
Volunteer Assistant Jim Woodworth
Audience Services Associates Alexandra Juckno, James Zissulis
Matt Spano, Paul Ruszcynski
Ticket Sales Associates Carol Sherry, Ellen Rubenstein
Larry Cogley
Marketing & Sales Intern Giovanna Yarn
Marketing Intern Yunran (Cher) Zhang
PROFESSIONAL SERVICES
Accounting Roderick’s Payroll Service
Website Terry Barth Design
Graphic Design Lee Brock Design
Melinda Ancillo
Photography Ride Hamilton
Lisa O’Brien
18 PROVINCETOWN TENNESSEE WILLIAMS THEATER FESTIVAL 2018BSR15040_TennesseeWilliamHalfPageAd_8x5_F.indd 1 8/13/15 8:01 AM
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20 PROVINCETOWN TENNESSEE WILLIAMS THEATER FESTIVAL 2018SUSTAINING CARTE BLANCHE
TICKETS & PASSES
All–Access VIP Sustaining Donor Pass | $875
• All the benefits of Carte Blanche plus...
• Invitation to a private donor party
• Exclusive contact with the Festival artists
• Includes a $500 tax-deductible donation
BUY YOUR TICKETS IN ADVANCE!
TICKETS ARE NOT AVAIL ABLE AT THE SHOW VENUES
Party cover charges may be paid at the door.
CARTE BLANCHE
All–Access VIP Pass | $675
• See every show in the Festival (12 tickets per pass, up
to two tickets per show) How To Pick Up Your Pass:
• Mix and match tickets based on your preference Visit the Box Office any time after 10 am
• Exclusive wine tasting and cocktail party on Wednesday, Sept. 26 to pick up your Pass.
• Free entry for two to the opening and closing parties For questions, email tickets@twptown.org.
• Preferred seats held until a few minutes before curtain
• Includes a $300 tax-deductible donation Online: twptown.org
24 hours a day (convenience fees apply)
FLEX PASS
Create your own package | $225 Phone: 866–789–TENN (8366) Ext. 1
Monday – Friday 9 am to 9 pm
• Six tickets for one convenient low price
Saturday & Sunday 10 am to 6 pm
• Save 15% or more, up to two tickets per show
• Avoid single ticket fees and lines at the Box Office
Box Office Hours:
• Free entry for two to the opening and closing parties
Walk–up sales during Festival only:
• Choose your performances via phone or online
Wed – Sat, September 26 – 29, 10 am – 8 pm
• Free ticket exchanges (surcharges may apply to
Sun September 30, 10 am – 6 pm
premium-priced events)
STUDY PASS Box Office Location:
For full–time students | $150 Our Box Office has moved! We are now located at:
• Students of any age are eligible if currently enrolled 331 Commercial Street, Provincetown MA 02657
with a full-time course load
• Includes up to 10 tickets (redeem one ticket per show) Everyone – even pass-holders – must have a ticket.
plus free entry to Williams 101 Passes and tickets may be picked up at the Box Office
• Free entry to the closing party beginning Wednesday, Sept 26.
• Choose your performances by phone or online
• A current student ID is required at time of pick-up
SEATING POLICIES: The house opens 15 minutes prior to
curtain time, except when noted online and in the Festival
TICKET POLICIES: Tickets and passes are non-refundable. catalog. Except for Carte Blanche holders, all seating is
All single tickets sales are final and may not be exchanged. general admission. All pass-holders will be seated first,
Pass-holders may exchange tickets for alternate performances if present when the house opens. Carte Blanche holders
of the same show, pending ticket availability. Exchanges must can be assured of a premium seat until curtain time, as
be completed by phone or in-person at the Box Office. Shows, long as they have booked tickets in advance. All reserved
performers, venues, times, and dates are subject to change. seats will be released at curtain time at the discretion of
In the event of a programming change, ticket holders will be house management. Latecomers will be seated only at the
notified by email and by signs posted at the Box Office. discretion of house management.
Make a grand entrance. Voted one of Cape Cod’s Coziest Places
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jimmyshideaway.com
capeair.com 800-CAPE-AIR
T WPTOWN.ORG 21BOX OFFICE
331 Commercial Street
VENUE MAP
PROVINCETOWN THEATER
238 Bradford Street
WHARF HOUSE AT PROVINCETOWN MARINA
9 Ryder Street Extension (at the end of the wharf)
FISHERMEN HALL
12 Winslow Street
TOWN HALL
260 Commercial Street
PROVINCETOWN INN
1 Commercial Street
PILGRIM MONUMENT
1 High Pole Hill Road
THE PILGRIM HOUSE
336 Commercial Street
THE BOATSLIP
161 Commercial Street
BOWERSOCK GALLERY
373 Commercial Street
WHITE WIND INN
174 Commercial Street
GOVERNOR BRADFORD
312 Commercial Street
SHIPWRECK LOUNGE
10 Carver Street
HARBOR LOUNGE
359 Commercial Street
DINING
Near the Box Office:
The Landing Bistro & Bar at the Pilgrim House – 336 Commercial St. 508-487-6424
The Lobster Pot – 321 Commercial St. 508-487-0842
Far Land Provisions – 150 Bradford St. 508-487-0045
The Governor Bradford – 312 Commercial St. 508-487-2781
Mistralino – 133 Bradford St. 774-593-5945
Near the Provincetown Theater:
The Mews – 429 Commercial St. 508-487-1500
Strangers & Saints – 404 Commercial St. 508-487-1449
Near the Center of Town:
Bubala’s – 185 Commercial St. 508-487-0773
1620 Brewhouse – 214 Commercial St. 774-593-5180
Jimmy’s Hideaway – 179 Commercial St. 508-487-1101
Near the Provincetown Inn:
West End Lounge – Provincetown Inn – 1 Commercial St. 508-487-9555
The Red Inn – 15 Commercial St. 508-487-7334
22 PROVINCETOWN TENNESSEE WILLIAMS THEATER FESTIVAL 2018THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY
SEPTEMBER 27 SEPTEMBER 28 SEPTEMBER 29 SEPTEMBER 30
SCHEDULE
11:00 – 12:30 10:30 – 12:00 10:00 – 11:30 11:00 – 12:15
WILLIAMS 101 WILLIAMS 101 WILLIAMS 101 SNAGGLEPUSS
Pilgrim Monument | $15 Pilgrim Monument | $15 Pilgrim Monument | $15 CHRONICLES
Fishermen Hall | $45
1:00 – 2:30 1:00 – 2:15 12:00 – 1:15
DOÑA ROSITA COMPANY COMPANY 12:45 – 3:15
Wharf House | $35 Town Hall | $30 Town Hall | $30 UNCLE VANYA
Provincetown Inn | $40
12:30 – 2:00
1:00 – 2:15 1:00 – 2:30 MR. MERRIWETHER
2:15 – 3:30 MOOSE LODGE 1:00 – 2:30
Provincetown Inn | $30
3:30 – 4:45 Provincetown Theater | $35 DOÑA ROSITA
COMPANY Wharf House | $35
1:00 – 2:30
Town Hall | $30 3:00 – 4:30 TALISMAN ROSES
DOÑA ROSITA Provincetown Theater | $35 1:00 – 2:30
Wharf House | $35 MOOSE LODGE
3:00 – 4:30
2:00 – 3:15 Provincetown Theater | $35
TALISMAN ROSES
Provincetown Theater | $35 3:00 – 4:15 3:15 – 4:30
COMPANY COMPANY 1:00 – 2:15
5:00 – 6:30 Town Hall | $30 Town Hall | $30 2:15 – 3:30
PREMIERE MIXER COMPANY
2:00 – 4:15 Town Hall | $30
Governor Bradford 3:30 – 5:00
THE ROSE TATTOO
Cash Bar, Free Appetizers MR. MERRIWETHER
Fishermen Hall | $45 1:30 – 3:45
Provincetown Inn | $30
7:00 – 9:30 THE ROSE TATTOO
2:30 – 5:00 Fishermen Hall | $45
UNCLE VANYA 5:00 – 6:30 UNCLE VANYA
Provincetown Inn | $40 MEMPHIS ROSE MIXER Provincetown Inn | $40
Shipwreck Lounge 3:30 – 5:00
7:30 – 9:45 Cash Bar, Free Appetizers 3:30 – 5:00 MR. MERRIWETHER
THE ROSE TATTOO TALISMAN ROSES Provincetown Inn | $30
Fishermen Hall | $45 5:00 – 6:30 Provincetown Theater | $35
DONOR COCKTAIL PARTY 4:45 – 6:00
Carte Blanche & 3:30 – 5:00 COMPANY
8:00 – 9:30 Sustaining Donors Only DOÑA ROSITA Town Hall | $30
MOOSE LODGE White Wind Inn Wharf House | $35
Provincetown Theater | $35
4:30 – 6:00
7:00 – 8:15 5:00 – 6:30 DOÑA ROSITA
8:00 – 9:30 8:15 – 9:30 WORLDWIDE MIXER Wharf House | $35
MR. MERRIWETHER COMPANY Harbor Lounge
Provincetown Inn | $30 Town Hall | $30 Cash Bar, Free Appetizers
4:30 – 6:00
5:00 – 6:30 TALISMAN ROSES
10:00 – 12:00 7:00 – 9:30 DONOR WINE TASTING Provincetown Theater | $35
OPENING PARTY: UNCLE VANYA Carte Blanche &
PRETTY IN INK Provincetown Inn | $40 Sustaining Donors Only
Pilgrim House 8:00 – 10:00
Bowersock Gallery CLOSING PARTY:
$10 | FREE for Pass-holders 7:30 – 9:00 WISHFUL THINKING
TALISMAN ROSES 6:30– 7:30 The Boatslip | $15
Provincetown Theater | $35 MENAGERIE OF ANGELS
Free for pass-holders
Wharf House | $18
7:30 – 9:45
THE ROSE TATTOO 7:00 – 8:15
Fishermen Hall | $45 8:15 – 9:30
COMPANY
Town Hall | $30
10:00– 11:00
MENAGERIE OF ANGELS 7:30 – 10:00
Wharf House | $18 UNCLE VANYA
Provincetown Inn | $40
8:00 – 9:30
WEDNESDAY SATURDAY MR. MERRIWETHER
SEPTEMBER 26 SEPTEMBER 29 Provincetown Inn | $30
TOWNIE NIGHT FREE LECTURE/DEMO
8:00 – 10:15
7:30pm–9:45pm 10:00am–11:30 am THE ROSE TATTOO
THE ROSE TATTOO ANTONY & CLEOPATRA Fishermen Hall | $45
Fishermen Hall Provincetown Inn
Special $20 Preview Reserve at Box Office 8:30 – 10:00
MOOSE LODGE
Provincetown Theater | $35
T WPTOWN.ORG 23PASS TRACKING
FLEX PASS
Suggested Performance Tracks Possible Groupings of Shows
LOVE AND LAUGHTER
CARTE BLANCHE 1 CARTE BLANCHE 2 CARTE BLANCHE 3 THE ROSE TATTOO
No Evening Shows Four Days, Easy Pace Three Days, Fast Pace MOOSE LODGE
Starting Thursday Starting Thursday Evening Starting Friday MR. MERRIWETHER
GHOSTS AND APPARITIONS
THURSDAY SEPT 27 THURSDAY SEPT 27
COMPANY
11:00 WILLIAMS 101 5:00 Premiere Mixer
MR. MERRIWETHER
3:00 TALISMAN ROSES 7:30 ROSE TATTOO
MENAGERIE OF ANGELS
5:00 Premiere Mixer 10:00 Opening Party
10:00 Opening Party CULTURE WARS
THE ROSE TATTOO
FRIDAY SEPT 28 FRIDAY SEPT 28 FRIDAY SEPT 28 MOOSE LODGE / STEPS MUST BE GENTLE
1:00 MOOSE LODGE 10:30 WILLIAMS 101 3:00 DOÑA ROSITA SNAGGLEPUSS
3:30 MR. MERRIWETHER 4:30 DOÑA ROSITA 5:00 Donor Party
5:00 Donor Party 5:00 Donor Party 7:30 TALISMAN ROSES WILLIAMS 2018
7:00 COMPANY 10:00 MENAGERIE OF ANGELS TALISMAN ROSES
8:15 COMPANY (alternate) MR. MERRIWETHER
10:00 MENAGERIE OF ANGELS MOOSE LODGE
THE ROSE TATTOO
SATURDAY SEPT 29 SATURDAY SEPT 29 SATURDAY SEPT 29
12:00 COMPANY 12:30 MR. MERRIWETHER 10:00 WILLIAMS 101 INTERNATIONAL PLAYWRIGHTS
2:00 ROSE TATTOO 2:30 UNCLE VANYA 12:30 MR. MERRIWETHER UNCLE VANYA
5:00 Donor Party 5:00 Donor Party 2:30 UNCLE VANYA DOÑA ROSITA
6:30 MENAGERIE OF ANGLES 5:30 Donor Party
COMPANY
8:30 MOOOSE LODGE
ENVIRONMENTAL STAGINGS
SUNDAY SEPT 30 SUNDAY SEPT 30 SUNDAY SEPT 30
COMPANY at Town Hall
11:00 SNAGGLEPUSS 11:00 SNAGGLEPUSS 11:00 SNAGGLEPUSS DOÑA ROSITA in the Wharf House
12:45 UNCLE VANYA 1:00 MOOSE LODGE 1:30 ROSE TATTOO MENAGERIE OF ANGELS in the Wharf House
4:30 DOÑA ROSITA 4:30 TALISMAN ROSES 4:45 COMPANY TALISMAN ROSES & WAITING PLAYS
8:00 Closing Party 8:00 Closing Party 8:00 Closing Party at the Provincetown Theater
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24 PROVINCETOWN TENNESSEE WILLIAMS THEATER FESTIVAL 2018T he setting for The Rose Tattoo is
somewhere between New Orleans and
The play is dedicated to Frank Merlo,
Williams’ Sicilian-American life-partner of 14
THE ROSE
Mobile, on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi years. In a letter from 1950 to Elia Kazan, Williams
known for its tempestuous storms. Serafina wrote: “During the past two years I have been,
delle Rose lives there in an enclave of Sicilian for the first time in my life, happy and at home
i m m ig r a nt s . A s t he woma n who sel l s
TATTOO
with someone and I think of this play as a
m a g i c powders to the village reports: monument to that happiness, a house built
of images and words for that happiness
Assunta: There is something wild in the air, to live in.”
no wind but everything’s moving. The Rose Tattoo opened on Broadway in
Serafina: I don’t see nothing moving and 1951 directed by Daniel Mann. It won the Tony
neither do you. Awards for Best Play, for Maureen Stapleton as THE ROSE TATTOO
Serafina, and for Eli Wallach (2008 Festival) as by Tennessee Williams
Assunta: Nothing is moving so you can see it the man who does return. The 1955 film starred directed by Dana Greenfield
moving, but everything is moving, and I can Anna Magnani, who won an Oscar for her
hear the star-noises. Hear them? Hear the featuring Irene Glezos
star-noises? Serafina. Festival audiences will recognize our
Serafina, Irene Glezos, from another Magnani
Williams tries a new form of drama, combining role, Lady in Orpheus Descending (2010, 2011 ROMANTIC COMEDY
slapstick with a prehistoric celebration of spring. Festivals). Magnani played Lady in The Fugitive Festival star Irene Glezos explodes as the
Set to the pulse of Williams’ poetic dialogue, the Kind, the film version of Orpheus. Sicilian widow Serafina in this luscious
progression of the heavens (what in ancient Williams fable of loss, faith, and rebirth.
drama would be called Fate) aligns with the
banked fire of suppressed emotion.
Wishful thinking? The play begins with a few
lines spoken by children playing. Their mothers MOON LAKE PRODUCTIONS
call them home and then the stage directions New York, NY
tell us: “Serafina delle Rose is seen on the parlor
sofa, waiting for her husband Rosario’s return.”
He never arrives. Serafina won’t allow the
village priest or the neighborhood gossips to
tell her why. She knows. PERFORMANCES
The “something wild in the air” is the wind
Thursday Sept 27, 7:30 pm – 9:45 pm
of change. Loss follows, then rebellion rises.
Within three years, Serafina “has a wild thing Friday, Sept 28, 7:30 pm – 9:45 pm
in the house”: her daughter, now 15 years old, Saturday Sept 29, 2:00 pm – 4:15 pm
whose name is a much of a muchness, Rosa Saturday Sept 29, 8:00 pm – 10:15 pm
delle Rose.
In Williams’ The Glass Menagerie a Sunday Sept 30, 1:30 pm – 3:45 pm
painfully shy daughter is pushed forward by
her vivacious mother. In The Rose Tattoo, the
mother holds her daughter back. Defying change
as well as she can, Serafina keeps the memory of
her husband alive with an altar to what remains
of him. But Rosa has met a boy and they
FISHERMEN HALL
have fallen in love. Serafina locks the
12 Winslow Street | $45
doors and hides Rosa’s clothes so she
can’t go to school. Her daughter shouts:
“I don’t want to live locked up with a
bottle of ashes!”
Compare Rosa to Laura, the daughter in
SPONSORED BY
Menagerie, who shrinks from school and from
An early one-act version of the play, The Dog Far Land Provisions
life. When Serafina has sunk to a self-made
Enchanted by the Divine View, premiered at the Provincetown Banner
hell, Rosa’s yearning forces her mother out
Festival in 2008, directed by David Kaplan with
of it.
Nancy Cassaro and Larry Coen (see page 41).
As The Rose Tattoo unfolds, Serafina waits
The Festival’s 2018 production of The Rose
twice more for a man in the moonlight. As the Photo by Alanna Hanly
Tattoo, framed by a massive altar, is directed
play concludes she whispers to Assunta “Two
by Dana Greenfield. She’s led nine actors,
lives again in the body!” then shouts for all to
playing two dozen roles, to bring Serafina’s
hear “Vengo, vengo, amore!”
boisterous village to life.
T WPTOWN.ORG 25THE PROVINCETOWN THEATER
238 Bradford Street
Tennessee Williams Theater Festival
SEPT 27 – 30 Townie Holiday
Extravaganza
The Laramie Project DEC 21 – 23
OCT 11 – 28
New Year’s Eve
Premiere Play Bash
to be Announced! DEC 31
NOV 15 – DEC 2
For More Information & Tickets Please Visit
Our Website | www.provincetowntheater.org
Downtown Box Office @ 230 Commercial Street
508.487.7487
FILM & TELEVISION
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www.dkrfilms.com info@dkrfilms.com
26 PROVINCETOWN TENNESSEE WILLIAMS THEATER FESTIVAL 2018A ta lisma n is def ined in two ways by
Webster’s Dictionary:
Spring Storm and the one-act Talisman Roses, a
strong-willed aunt dotes on her niece, but little
TALISMAN
1: an object held to act as a charm to avert evil
and bring good fortune
2: something producing apparently magical or
else is the same. When Williams read Spring
Storm aloud to his playwriting class at the
University of Iowa in the fall of 1937 the play
ROSES
miraculous effects. was disliked by his fellow students and
In the short play, Talisman Roses, written by by the professor. It is unclear if Talisman
Tennessee Williams in 1937, the playwright Roses was ever shown or read in class.
contemplates hope that the scent and sight of The title page of Talisman Roses identifies it as
flowers might be a talisman to ward off deepest “A genre piece,” a reference to “genre painting,”
sorrow. The year before he wrote the play, his a style of painting popular with 17th-century
older sister Rose, who was 28, was committed to Dutch and Flemish artists depicting scenes from TALISMAN ROSES
an asylum. Late that spring Rose was diagnosed ordinary life, usually domestic situations. Genre by Tennessee Williams
with dementia praecox, literally “precocious paintings typically present a situation between directed by Marsha Mason
madness,” now labeled schizophrenia. The first people, but not a resolution or a moment of high with waiting plays by
time her brother visited the asylum, her doctor drama. They are a suspended moment, with the Charlene A. Donaghy
suggested that some shock—insulin shock, outcome left to the beholder. They are homely Joseph Paprzycki
electric shock—might jolt Rose back to enjoying and homey. The opening image of Talisman Eric Marlin
life as she had before. Williams was upset to Roses — two women sewing at home, with a view
see bars on the windows where Rose was staying, of the garden behind them — could very well be
a detail he added by hand to a typed draft the subject of a genre painting. The play is set WORLD PREMIERE
of Talisman Roses in which he imagined a in a small Midwestern town. Williams’ featuring Amanda Plummer
woman in Rose’s condition on her way to a cure. replication of the word order and sounds of
Williams gave a similar title, “Talisman of Midwestern dialect is as painstaking as a genre-
Roses,” to verses he worked on for years, painter’s attention to realistic visual details. Tennessee Williams imagines flowers might
eventually including them as the third and Talisman Roses, the Festival’s 12th world restore a crushed soul in this unpublished
last part of a longer poem, “Recuerdo” premiere of a play by Tennessee Williams, is one-act, performed for the first time under
(the Spanish word for memory), published presented with The Waiting Plays, a collection the direction of distinguished actor and
in 1946. The draft poem “Talisman of of short plays by writers from the Festival director Marsha Mason.
Roses” explicitly describes Rose Williams: community. These include Always a Line and
Permanent Ink by Charlene A. Donaghy, Curtain
… love’s explosion, defined as early madness, at 8:10 and A Three Hour Tour by Joseph M. THE COLLECTIVE NY
consumingly shone in her transparent heart for a Paprzycki, and How It Will End by Eric Marlin. New York, NY
season and burned it out, a tissue-paper lantern Marlin is currently a student at the University
of Iowa where Williams was enrolled in the
Talisman roses are a striking yellow-orange fall of 1937. PERFORMANCES
variety of tea roses, scented like peaches. They Produced by The Collective NY, Talisman
won the American Rose Society Gold Medal in Roses is directed by celebrated actor and Thursday Sept 27, 3:00 pm – 4:30 pm
1929, the year they were introduced. Florists director, Marsha Mason, and features Friday Sept 28, 7:30 pm – 9:00 pm
marketed them in the 1930s for bridal bouquets. Amanda Plummer, the winner of this year’s
Saturday Sept 29, 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm
Williams mentions talisman roses in a related TENN Award (see page 42) for her commitment
play first titled April is the Cruelest Month, then to interpreting and creating, roles written by Saturday Sept 29, 3:30 pm – 5:00 pm
Time of Roses, then Spring Storm. In the three-act Tennessee Williams.
Sunday Sept 30, 4:30 pm – 6:00 pm
PROVINCETOWN THEATER
238 Bradford Street | $35
SPONSORED BY
Provincetown Theater
Fleur du Cap
Photo of Rose Williams, Harvard Theatre Collection
T WPTOWN.ORG 276 Dyer St., Provincetown, Massachusetts www.benchmarkinn.com 28 PROVINCETOWN TENNESSEE WILLIAMS THEATER FESTIVAL 2018
M r. Merriwether is a traveling salesman
who has been gone from his boarding-
In the New Testament, Bethesda is a pool of
water in Jerusalem into which the sick submerge
WILL MR.
MERRIWETHER
house so long his landlady Louise waits for his and rise up cured. In Williams’ Bethesda, on
return “with fox-teeth in her heart.” He is said the street that divides black from white, lepers
to have landed a desk job in Memphis. Williams live in cisterns out of which, gossip has it, they
seems to mean Memphis, Tennessee, named after
RETURN FROM
crawl to make love and bear children. Nora
the ancient Egyptian capital famous for its vast passes on the story of Mrs. Eldridge from the
necropolis, a monumental City of the Dead. white part of town: so old she’s given up facelifts,
MEMPHIS?
The boarding-house where Louise waits for yet wearing a pale lacquered mask she lures black
Mr. Merriwether is in Bethesda, Mississippi, a men from Tiger Town to her home where she
mythical Mississippi town where the wind blows may “confiscate their youth.”
as powerfully as it does in The Rose Tattoo. The The action occurs as the nineteenth century
plunk of strumming banjos drifts from the slips into the twentieth, yet “Three Fatal Sisters” WILL MR. MERRIWETHER RETURN
pleasurable quarter known as Tiger Town, out of classical Greek mythology, drop by the FROM MEMPHIS?
where happy couples dance the cakewalk. As in boarding-house “on assignment” (assigned by by Tennessee Williams
A Streetcar Named Desire, the language of love whom Williams doesn’t care to reveal). Once, directed by Jeff Glickman
in Bethesda is French. The town’s French Club they say, someone called them the Eumenides.
exists “for two things, the study of the French In Greek mythology, the Eumenides, “the
language and the confession and purgation of Gracious Ones,” were formerly the Furies, a GHOST STORY
what is troubling our hearts.” transformation in keeping with the possibility For every shadow there is a bright light
of Mr. Merriwether’s return. shining in this high-spirited ghost story, a
Louise: Même dans un rêve on peut souffrir Written in 1969, first published in 2008, play with music and dance accompanied
l’angoisse d’une séparation... Will Mr. Merriwether Return from Memphis? by banjo.
premiered on January 24, 1980 at the Tennessee
Instructor: Now will you please translate the
Williams Fine Arts Center of the Florida
confession of Mrs. McBride.
Keys Community College, directed by
William Prosser. PENSACOLA LITTLE THEATRE
Nora: “Even in a dream you can suffer the
In “Through the Dark Door,” a chapter of Pensacola, FL
agony of a separation.”
his book The Late Plays of Tennessee Williams,
Louise and her widowed neighbor, Nora, Prosser describes how Williams was actively
distract themselves from day-to-day worry involved in the Key West premiere, despite PERFORMANCES
by conducting séances. Those whose ghosts preparations at the time for the Broadway Thursday Sept 27, 8:00 pm – 9:30 pm
appear—Vincent Van Gogh and the poet production of Clothes for a Summer Hotel
Friday Sept 28, 3:30 pm – 5:00 pm
Arthur Rimbaud—were ignored or reviled (subtitled “a ghost play”).
while alive for defying artistic conventions. “During rehearsals of Mr. Merriwether, Saturday Sept 29, 12:30 pm – 2:00 pm
Williams believed himself on a similar path. The I asked Williams why he felt artists turned Saturday Sept 29, 8:00 pm – 9:30 pm
play’s opening scene is a prologue in which the more toward the fantastic as they grew older.
author is identified as “a tiresome old man … His answer was simple: ‘Because the world Sunday Sept 30, 3:30 pm – 5:00 pm
probably dead.” becomes more fantastic as you grow older.
Throughout Merriwether, the dead claim a I can’t go on writing realistic plays anymore,
place with the living. Louise’s teenage daughter, I can’t.’”
Gloria, is moved to trembling and tears when The production is from the Pensacola Little
she considers that the fossil rocks she brought Theatre, directed by Jeff Glickman. Glickman THE PROVINCETOWN INN
back from a high school fieldtrip were once living directed himself, Leslee Young and Paxton THE MAYFLOWER ROOM
ferns and single cell beings. Her sympathies McCaghren in the Festival’s 2010 27 Wagons Full 1 Commercial Street | $30
mystify – and attract – a stammering beau. of Cotton. All three return to Provincetown for
Mr. Merriwether.
SPONSORED BY
Bay State Cruise Company
The Lobster Pot
Photo
Photoby
by_________
Jeff Glickman
T WPTOWN.ORG 29You can also read
