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New Orleans Literary Festival Announces 3/25 Events
By: A.A. Cristi Mar. 25, 2018
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Today's Events; Sunday, March 25
Sponsored by the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and Foundation Community Partnership Grants along with funding from the History/A+E Networks. 11:30 AM-Music Event
THE POETRY OF Hank Williams WITH MUSICIAN SPENCER BOHREN
Spencer Bohren's lifelong fascination with America's musical roots led him to New Orleans in the 1970s and the city's legendary spirit has been seeping into his repertoire of original and traditional blues, country, gospel and folk songs ever since. A world renowned lapsteel player, Spencer is also a virtuoso guitarist, songwriter, visual artist, educator and storyteller. For this year's festival, Spencer celebrates the simple beauty of Hank Williams' timeless songs and tells stories that place the beloved country singer firmly within the pantheon of mythic southern poets and writers. $10 or Literary Discussion Pass, Combo Pass, or VIP Pass.
WHAT WAS PLAYING ON TENNESSEE'S VICTROLA?
The Pfister Sisters (Holley Bendtsen, Karen Stoehr and Yvette Voelker, with pianist Amasa Miller) bring their unique experimental rhythms and intricate harmonies that harken to the hot jazz scene of the 1920's and 30's. Steeped in jazz history, they carry on the sweet-hot vocal harmony indigenous to New Orleans created by our own jazz visionaries, the Boswell Sisters, Connee, Martha, and Vet, in the 1920's. When The Pfister Sisters learned that Tennessee Williams danced from childhood with his sister Rose to music playing on their Victrola, wrote with music playing, and was one of the first playwrights to specify music in his plays, they developed this program of the kind of music he might have been listening to and influenced by. $10 or Literary Discussion Pass, Combo Pass, or VIP Pass. 2:30 PM-Music Event
NEW ORLEANS JAZZ: CREOLE, CARIBBEAN, AND THE CRESCENT CITY
Cultural traditions exemplify the rich varied roots in the City of New Orleans. But culture resides in the people who have lived their lives within it. Sharing a Creole family heritage, banjo/guitarist Don Vappie and bassist Richard Moten will perform and speak about New Orleans music encompassing jazz, Creole, and Caribbean songs that define the important social relationship existing within the Crescent City culture. $10 or Literary Discussion Pass, Combo Pass, or VIP Pass.
Jumpstart your writing with the New Orleans Writing Marathon! Hosted by Marathon founder Richard Louth, participants write their way across the French Quarter in cafes, pubs, bookstores, and anywhere a small group of writers can sit, write, and share their work. It's all about writing in the moment, writing for the joy of it, and finding inspiration in one's place. Writers gather for a brief overview of the Writing Marathon process before setting out in small groups to write and enjoy the city's food, spirits, and atmosphere until noon or beyond. Participants write on anything they want in any form they wish-memoir, fiction, reflection, essay, poetry, or quick descriptive impressions-and share their writing with each other without criticism. For more information, please visit: www.writingmarathon.com and for questions, contact Richard Louth at rlouth@selu.edu.
Writing Marathons will begin at 9 am Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday in the Hotel Monteleone, Queen Anne Ballroom. Free and open to the public.
Writing Marathon Readings: Participants in any of the three Writing Marathons are invited to read their writing at a celebration on Sunday, March 25, at 2:30 PM in the Hotel Monteleone, Gallier Room.
Free and open to the public.
Hotel Monteleone, Queen Anne Ballroom, FREE 10 AM-Literary Discussion
HUMAN RIGHTS: THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES
This panel brings together writers and activists who have been on the frontlines of the human rights struggle for years to talk about gains and losses. Calvin Trillin's civil rights journalism has been collected in Jackson, 1964: And Other Dispatches from Fifty Years of Reporting on Race in America. Elizabeth F. Schwartz served as co-counsel on the case challenging Florida's same-sex marriage ban brought by the National Center for Lesbian Rights on behalf of six same-sex couples seeking the right to marry (Pareto v. Ruvin). Loyola University professor Uriel Quesada is the author of eight books of fiction, including Mar Caníbal (2016) and editor of Queer Brown Voices: 14 Personal Narratives of Latina/o Activism. In her National Book Award-nominated debut novel, authorand civil rights advocate Margaret Wilkerson Sexton puts a very human visage on the plight of three generations of a black family in New Orleans. Moderated by Tania Tetlow, Chief of Staff and Senior VP of Tulane University and Felder-Fayard Professor of Law, whose research focuses on unconstitutional race and gender discrimination against the victims of crimes. Sponsored in part by the Ethel & Herman L. Midlo Center for New Orleans Studies at the University of New Orleans.
Hotel Monteleone, Queen Anne Ballroom$10 or Literary Discussion Pass, Combo Pass or VIP Pass. 10 AM-Literary Discussion
NEW ORLEANS AND THE WORLD, 1718-2018, THE TRICENTENNIAL ANTHOLOGY-A Tricentennial Discussion
Contributors to the new landmark anthology from the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities discuss the ways New Orleans cemented its reputation as a world capital. Panelists including journalist and publisher Jack Davis, Dr. Robert Dupont of the University of New Orleans, independent scholar Freddi Williams Evans, Dr. Kara Tucina Olidge of the Amistad Research Center, Zella Palmer of Dillard University, and Dr. Lawrence Powell, professor emeritus at Tulane University discuss their contributions with Dr. Nancy Dixon of Dillard University, Executive Editor.
Hotel Monteleone, Royal Ballroom, $10 or Literary Discussion Pass, Combo Pass or VIP Pass. 10 AM-Walking Tour
Tennessee Williams LITERARY WALKING TOUR CREATED BY DR. KENNETH HOLDITCH
New Orleans-and especially the French Quarter-played a vital role in shaping Tennessee Williams. When he came here for the first time, he was Tom Williams. When he left here a couple of months later, he was known as Tennessee, having undergone a tremendous change in his personal life and his creativity. A man perpetually on the move, Tennessee considered this city his "spiritual home" and had at least eight residences in its famous neighborhoods. Visit the homes and hangouts where he lived and worked and returned to throughout his adult life, beloved spots that helped to make Tennessee America's greatest playwright. Led by Heritage Tours and created by Dr. Kenneth Holditch, this was the first literary tour of the French Quarter.
Tours at 10 AM and 2 PM, THURSDAY THROUGH SUNDAY
Tour meets in the Hotel Monteleone Queen Anne Parlor, $25 or VIP Pass. 10 AM-Culinary Event
HIS MOMMA 'N'EM: TALKING WITH RICK BRAGG ABOUT FOOD
New Orleans Advocate food writer Ian McNulty talks with Rick Bragg about his forthcoming food memoir/cookbook, The Best Cook in the World: Tales from My Momma's Table. Who doesn't love Margaret Bragg already, thanks to her son's loving tributes? This new book focuses on food and family, and includes 75 recipes that will make you want to head home for your own kitchen and get to it. Includes samples, and as always with Rick Bragg, we get a celebration of the South and its great stories. "Good food always has a good story, and a recipe is a story like anything else," Bragg writes. Bring on the red-eye gravy!
Dickie Brennan's Bourbon House, 144 Bourbon Street, $20 or VIP Pass. 11 AM-Theater
STAGED READING OF THE 2018 FESTIVAL ONE-ACT PLAY CONTEST WINNER
The Festival is proud to showcase the winning play of this year's One-Act Play Contest through a dynamic staged reading of the script. The winner receives a $1500 cash prize. This event is presented by the University of New Orleans Department of Film and Theatre under the direction of David W. Hoover. The Creative Writing Workshop (MFA Program) at the University of New Orleans administers and coordinates the competition and judging. Pulitzer-prize finalist playwright, Lisa D'Amour, was this year's judge. Our one-act contest was sponsored by The Favrot-Van Horn Fund.
Hotel Monteleone, La Nouvelle Ballroom, $10 or Literary Discussion Pass, Combo Pass, or VIP Pass. 11:30 AM-Literary Discussion
"IF THE WRITING IS HONEST"-PLAYWRIGHTS DISCUSS THEIR PASSIONS, THEIR POLITICS, AND THEIR PEOPLE
Tennessee Williams wrote: "If the writing is honest it cannot be separated from the [person] who wrote it." The three playwrights on this panel are well known for exploring and representing gay and lesbian characters, their stories, and their history. Jewelle Gomez (Bones and Ash, Waiting for Giovanni), Moisés Kaufman (Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde, 33 Variations), and Martin Sherman (The Boy from Oz, Bent) will discuss the impulses and influences behind their plays, the writers and performers who inspire them, and the prevalence and diversity of plays by and about gay men and lesbians in contemporary theater. Moderated by Thomas Keith. Sponsored by Janet Daley Duval and Amelia W. Koch.
Hotel Monteleone, Queen Anne Ballroom, $10 or Literary Discussion Pass, Combo Pass or VIP Pass. 11:30 AM-Literary Discussion
THE NEXT 300: TELLING NEW STORIES ABOUT NEW ORLEANS & ITS PAST
In the year of the city's Tricentennial-after two years of conflict over Confederate monuments and decades of individual efforts to tell silenced and forgotten histories about the city's past-there is a vibrant movement afoot to produce new, more inclusive histories of New Orleans. Join historian Mary Niall Mitchell from the Midlo Center for New Orleans Studies at UNO as she moderates a discussion with Laine Kaplan-Levenson, producer and voice of WWNO's popular podcast Tripod: New Orleans at 300 (in collaboration with The Historic New Orleans Collection and the Midlo Center); Sue Mobley from Tulane's Small Center for Collaborative Design and co-leader of the Paper Monuments project; and Dr. Elizabeth Steeby from UNO's English Department, co-editor of the People's Guide to New Orleans, part of a series of city guides to be published by University of California Press.
Sponsored in part by the Ethel & Herman L. Midlo Center for New Orleans Studies at the University of New Orleans.
Hotel Monteleone, Royal Ballroom, $10 or Literary Discussion Pass, Combo Pass or VIP Pass. 1 PM-Literary Discussion
MY FAVORITE MISTAKE
These writers, who all write intricately plotted, bestselling novels, know what it's like to plunge down the wrong path from time to time. They talk about what can be learned from mistakes, the pain of recognizing that a work-in-progress has serious flaws, and how big blunders can lead to big breakthroughs. Hear Jami Attenberg, Alison Gaylin, and Laura Lippman talk about their wrong turns with moderator Alison Fensterstock. Sponsored in part by the Pinckley Prizes.
Hotel Monteleone, Queen Anne Ballroom, $10 or Literary Discussion Pass, Combo Pass, or VIP Pass. 1 PM-Literary Discussion
A PANEL OF POETS LAUREATE
In this panel, moderated by poet Jericho Brown, we'll hear from Jennifer Horne, poet laureate of Alabama; Jack Bedell, poet laureate of Louisiana; and Beth Ann Fennelly, poet laureate of Mississippi. The poets will read from their work, talk about the special inspiration of place, and illuminate the responsibilities and rewards of being a state poet laureate.
Hotel Monteleone, Royal Ballroom, $10 or Literary Discussion Pass, Combo Pass, or VIP Pass. 1PM-Special Event
TRUMAN TALKS TENNESSEE
Broadway veteran Joel Vig returns to the Festival with "Truman Talks Tennessee." In this one-man show of his own creation, Vig plays Truman Capote near the end of his life as he recalls his friendship with America's greatest playwright. Both Capote and Williams were as eccentric as they were unforgettable, and the story of their friendship (with a wild supporting cast of famous friends and enemies) is as outrageous and bizarre as anything that either of them ever wrote. It is particularly appropriate that this piece will happen in New Orleans, Capote's hometown, and at the Hotel Monteleone, which Capote loved to claim as the site where he was conceived. With an introduction by Peggy Scott Laborde.
Hotel Monteleone, La Nouvelle Ballroom, $20 or VIP Pass. 2 PM-Walking Tour
Tennessee Williams LITERARY WALKING TOUR CREATED BY DR. KENNETH HOLDITCH
New Orleans-and especially the French Quarter-played a vital role in shaping Tennessee Williams. When he came here for the first time, he was Tom Williams. When he left here a couple of months later, he was known as Tennessee, having undergone a tremendous change in his personal life and his creativity. A man perpetually on the move, Tennessee considered this city his "spiritual home" and had at least eight residences in its famous neighborhoods. Visit the homes and hangouts where he lived and worked and returned to throughout his adult life, beloved spots that helped to make Tennessee America's greatest playwright. Led by Heritage Tours and created by Dr. Kenneth Holditch, this was the first literary tour of the French Quarter.
Tours at 10 AM and 2 PM, THURSDAY THROUGH SUNDAY
Tour meets in the Hotel Monteleone Queen Anne Parlor, $25 or VIP Pass. 2:30 PM-Literary Discussion/Interview
Calvin Trillin IN CONVERSATION WITH ERROL LABORDE
Two old friends discuss their shared and yet wide-ranging experiences-the challenges of journalism today, including covering serious issues from Civil Rights to contemporary politics, to writing with a light touch (Trillin is the deadline poet for The Nation). The two have shared many meals together, so there will be talk of great New Orleans food, of course. No one loves New York like Calvin Trillin and no one loves New Orleans like Errol Laborde, so expect to hear some local pride as well. Trillin, known for his witty and insightful writing for The New Yorker, has written fiction, memoir, and great works of social commentary; his most recent book is Jackson, 1964: And Other Dispatches from Fifty Years of Reporting on Race in America.
Hotel Monteleone, Queen Anne Ballroom, $10 or Literary Discussion Pass, Combo Pass, or VIP Pass. 2:30 PM-Theater
"BEAUTY IS THE WORD" AND "HOT MILK AT THREE IN THE MORNING" BY Tennessee Williams
A Staged Reading by The NOLA Project
Before A Streetcar Named Desire or The Glass Menagerie, there were "Beauty is the Word" and "Hot Milk at Three in the Morning." And before he went by Tennessee, playwright Thomas Lanier Williams was a student at the University of Missouri. "Beauty is the Word" was Williams' first play, winning an honorable mention and stage production for Williams in the MU Dramatic Arts Club's Dramatic Prize Plays contest in 1930. Over the course of one act, two young and worldly lovers of art and beauty visit their strict missionary relatives somewhere in the South Pacific. When the natives revolt and threaten to burn down the mission, the young couple saves the day through dance and music. "Hot Milk at Three in the Morning" was Williams' second submission to the Dramatic Prize Plays contest, which also received an honorable mention and was staged in 1932. The play focuses on an argument between a young married couple who are trapped by poverty and illness. Williams revised the play in 1940, titling it "Moony's Kid Don't Cry."
Hotel Monteleone, La Nouvelle Ballroom, $20 or VIP Pass. 2:30 PM-Literary Discussion
SOUTHERN COMMUNITIES: TELLING THEIR STORIES
Sometimes it takes a village. And that village needs a storyteller. Some of the best Southern writing illuminates place and people; three veteran writers talk about their experiences in writing about communities. Karen Cox, in Goat Castle, investigates a murder and its effect on an entire town; Sara Ann Harris shows us a different side of Louisiana culture in Dance Halls of Spanish Louisiana, and Adrienne Berard, in Water Tossing Boulders, chronicles the struggle of Chinese immigrants to desegregate schools in the Mississippi Delta. Moderator documentary film maker Kevin McCaffrey.
Hotel Monteleone, Royal Ballroom, $10 or Literary Discussion Pass, Combo Pass, or VIP Pass. 2:30 PM-Special Event
WRITING MARATHON READINGS
Participants in any of the three Writing Marathons are invited to read their marathon writing.
Hotel Monteleone, Gallier Room. Free and open to the public. 3 PM-Theater
A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE by Tennessee Williams
Directed by Maxwell Williams
The story of Blanche DuBois and her collision with her sensuous and brutal brother-in-law, Stanley Kowalski, is as dynamic and searing today as it was when it premiered in 1947. In conjunction with the 32nd annual TW/NOLF, Le Petit Theatre presents New Orleans' signature play-the Pulitzer Prize-winning masterwork by America's great poet-playwright, Tennessee Williams.
Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 7:30 PM, and Sunday at 3 PM.
Visit www.lepetittheatre.com or call 504.522.2081 for tickets.
Le Petit Théâtre du Vieux Carré, 616 St. Peter Street. 3 PM-Theater
Tennessee Williams DOUBLE BILL
Two rarely-seen works paired in a limited engagement, presented by Southern Rep Theatre in partnership with the Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival.
AND TELL SAD STORIES OF THE DEATH OF QUEENS
Directed by Ricky Graham
This production showcases barely contained desires and passions that erupt during a fateful Mardi Gras holiday. Candy, a successful drag queen, picks up a rough sailor and spoils him with money and attention. When he leaves her suddenly, it's up to the two queens who live upstairs to offer consolation.
THE TWO CHARACTER PLAY
Directed by Austin Pendleton in association with Playhouse Creatures Theatre Company
A brother-and-sister team of touring actors is abandoned in an isolated theatre by their troupe to face an unknown audience. Williams' fugue of a play brilliantly intertwines fantasy and reality as the two enact an illusion within an illusion and come to face the darkest truths about themselves. Tennessee Williams called this his "most beautiful" play since A Streetcar Named Desire. Irene Glezos (Big Easy nomination for her turn as "Lady" in Orpheus Descending) returns to Southern Rep opposite Joseph W. Rodriguez.
Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 7:30 PM; Sunday at 3 PM. For tickets, call 504-522-6545 or visit www.southernrep.com.
Loyola University, Marquette Theatre, 6363 St. Charles Avenue. 4:15 PM-Special Event
STELLA AND STANLEY SHOUTING CONTEST
Contestants vie to rival Stanley Kowalski's shout for "STELLAAAAA!!!" in the unforgettable scene from A Streetcar Named Desire. Women are welcome to join in and yell for Stanley (or Stella) as the NOLA Project's Cecile Monteyne provides inspiration on the Jackson Square balcony as our Stella. Celebrity judges will choose five finalists and declare a new winner. Prizes awarded.
Sponsored by Gulf Coast Bank and Trust Co. and The New Orleans Advocate.
Jackson Square, Free and open to the public. 6 PM-Theater
ONE ARM
Directed by Augustin J Correro
One Arm is Moises Kaufman's adaptation of a screenplay by Tennessee Williams, based on his short story of the same title. A navy veteran and boxer who lost his arm in a car accident must resort to hustling on Canal Street to make his living. When a john pushes him too far, though, he finds himself on death row. He escapes into the correspondence of his past clients for spiritual salvation until his number is up. Produced by the Tennessee Williams Theatre Company of New Orleans in conjunction with the TW/NOLF.
Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 8 PM; Sunday at 6 PM.
General Admission $25. Students/Seniors/Theater Professionals: $20.
Saturday, March 24: $40 includes a discussion with Moises Kaufman following the performance.
Visit www.tennesseewilliams.net or call 504-581-1144 for tickets.
Zeitgeist Multi-Disciplinary Arts Center, 1618 Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard. 6 PM-Theater
VIEUX CARRE BY Tennessee Williams
Directed by Dennis Monn
An aspiring writer (Christopher Weaver); a homosexual painter (Vinsantos Defonte); a doomed young woman (Emilie Whelan) and her Bourbon Street barker lover; two aging "ladies" living in poverty; and the eccentric irrepressible landlady are the lonely inhabitants of the boarding house at 722 Toulouse Street, where the real life Tennessee Williams stayed upon his arrival to New Orleans in 1938. Vieux Carre, considered one of Williams' most autobiographical, is a play of echoes and remembrances, a series of engrossing scenes, sometimes brutally candid, sometimes delicately poetic, woven together into a rich and revealing tapestry, glinting with theatricality and throbbing with the feel of life. This production features the live music of Sidney Bechet by Krewe of Bechet. Produced by the AllWays Lounge in partnership with the Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival.
Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 8 PM and Sunday at 6 PM.
AllWays Lounge, 2240 St. Claude Avenue, $25 table seating or $20 general admission. About the Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival
The Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival celebrates the genius of Tennessee Williams, who once called our city his "spiritual home," and the contemporary artists who are as honest and unflinching in their examination of the human condition as our patron playwright. Founded in 1986 by a group of cultural enthusiasts, the Festival has grown from a small gathering of 500 to a five-day literary and multi-cultural event, which sees 11,000+ seats filled each year. In late March, we toast Williams' birthday with theater, literary panels, food, and music events featuring luminaries and the brightest new talents in American arts. For more information, visit www.tennesseewilliams.net or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
The Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival (TW/NOLF) is supported by a grant from the Louisiana Division of the Arts, Office of Cultural Development, Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism, in cooperation with the Louisiana State Arts Council. Funding has also been provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, Art Works. Major backing comes from the New Orleans Theatre Association, which supports performing arts throughout the Greater New Orleans area, and the TW/NOLF is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts for Literature.
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