Jo Anne Worley, Michael Urie Set for DIRTY SHORTS at Williams Theatre Festival, 9/25

America's great playwright Tennessee Williams was also a prolific short story writer throughout his life. In "Dirty Shorts," a one night special event, two bawdy stories he wrote that celebrate sexual fulfillment as political expression will be read by actors for the first time at this year's Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theater Festival - Double Exposure: Past and Present.

Veteran actor and comedienne Jo Anne Worley, well known for her hilarious work on the comedy-variety show "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-in" from 1968-1970, will read Miss Coynte of Greene, the tale of a scandalous Mississippi Delta spinster crossing the color line.

Lucille Lortel Award-winner Michael Urie who starred in the hit TV series "Ugly Betty," will read The Killer Chicken and the Closet Queen, about a staid Wall Street lawyer who meets his match in a teen-aged boy fresh from the Ozarks.

Festival Curator David Kaplan who is directing this event says, "On our own we laugh when we "get" a joke. What fun for an audience to laugh together - and in Town Hall - "getting" Tennessee Williams from two fine, funny actors."

Jo Anne Worley recently starred in the Female Version of Neil Simon's The Odd Couple. Star-Ledger reviewer Peter Filichia was delighted with her portrayal of Florence, saying "The star best-known from "Laugh-In" is still making audiences laugh out loud right now...Over and over again, she proves that she's at the top of her comic game."

Worley, born in Lowell, Indiana, discovered early that the way to get attention as the middle child was to make people laugh. In high school she was dubbed "The School Comedienne."She went on to create her own nightclub act in Greenwich Village, was discovered by talk-show host Merv Griffin, made 200 appearances on his show, and was picked for "Rowan and Martin's Laugh In."

After leaving "Laugh-In," she made regular appearances on TV series, including "The Love Boat and game shows, such as "Hollywood Squares." She continued working in various movies, TV shows, and theatrical performances over the years; and became known for her work as a voice of characters in animated movies including, "Beauty and the Beast," "A Goofy Movie," and "Belle's Magical World."

Michael Urie is a native Texan who was active in Speech and Drama all through high school. He believes "Williams is really one of the best American writers we've had, for the theatre or otherwise." In high school he played Tennessee in an excerpt from a one-man show called Confessions of a Nightingale at the National Forensics League finals in Dramatic Interpretation. "It was 1998, I was a senior at Plano Sr. High School, the national competition was in St. Louis, and we actually made a visit to Tennessee's grave prior to the competition! Looking back is was a lousy impression of the man, but I won a lot of tournaments with it including the big nationals meet!"

The experience so impressed Urie that he's recently completed producing and directing a documentary, THANK YOU FOR JUDGING, about the world of forensics tournaments. His Tennessee Williams excerpt is featured.

Urie graduated from the Julliard School where he was recipient of the John Houseman prize for excellence in classical theater and the Laura Pels award for a career in the theater.

Attached are images of Jo Anne Worley and Michael Urie

Ticket Information:
The event takes place Sunday, September 25, 2011, 5 - 6:30 pm. Tickets are $40 general seating, $25 for economy balcony seats, and $50 for premium reserved seats; group rates and student discounts available. The Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theater Festival: Double Exposure Past and Present takes place Thursday, September 22 through Sunday, September 25, 2011 at various venues in Provincetown, Massachusetts. For more information, visit www.twptown.org.

 

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