Dukakis, Guare, Shanley, Redgrave and More Participate in Tennessee Williams' Poet's Corner Induction, 11/5

The cathedral of St. John the Divine, in association with the Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theater Festival, is pleased to present an evening of poetry, theater and reminiscences in honor of the induction of Tennessee Williams into The cathedral's Poets' Corner. On Thursday, November 5th at 7:00pm, theatre luminaries, friends of Mr. Williams and people who were inspired by his life work, will take part in the historic celebration. Participants include Eli Wallach & Anne Jackson, Vanessa Redgrave, Marian Seldes, John Guare, Olympia Dukakis, John Patrick Shanley, Gregory Mosher, Sylvia Miles, William Jay Smith, Lenya Rideout, Jeremy Lawrence, Wyatt Prunty, David Kaplan, Thomas Keith, Mitch Douglas, and current Cathedral Poet-in-Residence Charles F. Martin. It is expected that additional friends and colleagues of Mr. Williams will also be taking part in the evening.

The Poets' Corner was created in 1984 to memorialize American writers and is modeled after a similar alcove at Westminster Abbey in London. A board of electors, working with The cathedral's Poet-in-Residence, elects a literary giant - who died 25 or more years ago - annually. Elizabeth Bishop, Louise Bogan, Emily Dickinson, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Robert Frost, Langston Hughes, Herman Melville, Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Mark Twain, Edith Wharton, Walt Whitman, Phyliss Wheatley, e. e. cummings, Emma Lazarus and William Carlos Williams are among those who have been inducted. Tennessee Williams is the first poet/playwright to be inducted.

In addition to the celebration on Thursday evening, there will be a special Evensong Service on Sunday, November 8th at 4:00pm to complete the tribute and unveil the stone inscribed with Mr. Williams' line, "For time is the longest distance between two places," from The Glass Menagerie. Poets associated with the Poets' Corner, including Mr. Martin, and current electors and previous Poets-in-Residence will read from their works and offer tribute to Mr. Williams.

The cathedral of St. John the Divine is The cathedral of the Episcopal Diocese of New York. It is chartered as a house of prayer for all people and a unifying center of intellectual light and leadership. People from many faiths and communities worship together in services held more than 30 times a week; the soup kitchen serves roughly 20,000 meals annually; social service outreach has an increasingly varied roster of programs; the distinguished Cathedral School prepares young students to be future leaders; the renowned after school and summer program offers nurturing activities; the outstanding tapestry conservation lab preserves world treasures; concerts, performances and civic gatherings allow conversation, celebration, reflection and remembrance - such is the joyfully busy life of this beloved and venerated Cathedral.

For more information please visit www.stjohndivine.org or www.twptown.org.