Legendary Everett Quinton Directs Tennessee Williams' IN THE BAR OF A TOKYO HOTEL For TW Festival
By: Nora Dominick Aug. 11, 2016
Everett Quinton, famous for his involvement with Charles Ludlam's avant-garde Ridiculous Theatrical Company starred in Williams' Now the Cats with Jewelled Claws at the 2011 Festival and then at LaMama. Actors Regina Bartkoff and Charles Schick were also part of this production. They discovered that they all had a strong affinity for Tennessee Williams' later plays.
Bartkoff and Schick, who are also artists and married, went on to self-produce and Direct Williams' In the Bar of a Tokyo Hotel in 2012 at the intimate 292 Theatre in New York City. This play about a hedonist wife who has come to the end of her patience with her husband, a forever-experimenting artist, seemed made for these two actors who enjoy working together.
Backstage recognized that the characters' "...sensuality and aesthetics are at war. The obvious chemistry shared in the roles by Bartkoff and Schick, puts flesh on such symbolic bones."
For their performance at the TW Festival, Bartkoff and Schick invited Quinton to take a fresh look at the play.
"Williams didn't go stale or vanish after his hits," Quinton said. "It's great that he left a treasure trove of shorter, bolder plays. He had a progressive vein, his mind still playing with language. I love this play. I'm surprised it wasn't appreciated when he wrote it."
Kaplan said, "It wasn't appreciated because it didn't fit the categories of the day. It was moving, bawdy, and unsettling. It also indirectly criticized America for losing its way with the Vietnam War. By presenting this play alongside other Williams' genre-busting work, the Festival invigorates appreciation for the breadth of his creative accomplishments - beyond just five classic plays."
Regina Bartkoff believes that "Tennessee Williams was ahead of his time with this play. I'm amazed at his incredible humor. I love inhabiting this woman who is so aggressive and very funny."
Charles Schick is excited about, "playing the physicality of my character as he's falling apart. As an artist I also identify with Williams' very personal feelings about art."
Everett Quinton has a wide range of directing experience ranging from theater of the absurd to Shakespeare. After the death of his partner Charles Ludlam in 1987, Quinton became artistic director of the avant-garde Ridiculous Theatrical Company. He acted in and also directed many productions. He has also directed at Omaha Theatre for Young People and recently directed Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale at The Yorick in NY.
Schick and Bartkoff helped found the 292 Theatre/Gallery, an exhibition and performance space at 292 East Third Street. It has served as a laboratory for expression and experimentation. Citing Williams as a major source of inspiration, it was also the site of their revival of Tennessee Williams' The Two Character Play, which was called "an absolutely captivating experience" by Shiela O'Malley of The Shiela Variations
Quinton has recently appeared in The Witch of Edmonton at Red Bull Theater, as Florence Wexler in Devil Boys from Beyond at New World Stages, as Dr. Caius in The Merry Wives of Windsor at the Shakespeare Theatre in Washington, D.C., and as Jacob Marley in The McCarter Theatre's A Christmas Carol. Everett is also a member of Cleveland State University's Summer Stages where he appeared as MAdam Rosepettle in O Dad, Poor Dad, Mama's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feeling So Sad. Everett previously appeared at Red Bull Theater in Women Beware Women (2008 Callaway Award, Best Actor). Everett was a member of The Ridiculous Theatrical Company and served as its Artistic Director from 1987-1997. He has appeared in Charles Ludlam's Medea, The Secret Lives of the Sexists, Salammbo, Galas, The Artificial Jungle and the original production of The Mystery of Irma Vep (Obie and Drama Desk Award).
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