Tennessee Williams Festival St. Louis: En Avant! To Air On Classic 107.3

The Tennessee Williams Festival St. Louis (TWStL) moves to the airwaves this November 5th through the 15th. It centers on Williams' most famous and personal play, "The Glass Menagerie," featuring works that illuminate the artistry of his St. Louis-based masterpiece. Broadway legend  Ken Page will serve as the Host of the festival in addition to opening the Fest with a reading of  "Something Wild," depicting Williams early years as a playwright in St. Louis.

"The theme of this Festival - En Avant! - was Williams' signature phrase. Always moving onward, he found strength through fragility. Says Executive Artistic Director Carrie Houk. "We see this same forward-looking mindset all around us as we look beyond today's challenges towards the chance to benefit from the lessons. "En Avant!" captures the essence of our programming and also what we have experienced since the world changed in March. We have brought Williams' sparkling one-act plays to an ever larger audience in our "Something Spoken: Tennessee Williams on the Air" program on Classic 107.3. And now we are going big on Classic 107.3 with our November Festival."

"While we miss performing live, we have found that Williams' beautiful, poetic language translates well to radio," said Houk. "These are fully produced plays brought to life by an impressive company of directors, actors and sound designers. We are finding great joy in being able to provide employment to artists during a period of time when options are limited. In a time of fragility, I do believe we have found our strength. En Avant!!!"

The key elements of this eleven-day Festival will air multiple times on Classic 107.3, and all will be streamed for two weeks on both TWStL.org and Classic1073.org. Each performance will be followed by expert commentary from noted Williams scholars. In addition, a series of video panels relating to the productions, as well as an audio tour of Williams St. Louis sites, will be posted on their website.

The Festival's three main performances will be:

• The Glass Menagerie - Williams' greatest, most famous, and most personal play. The narrator recalls late in life how his youthful devotion to his sister Rose (Laura in the play) conflicted with his creative passions as he was about to escape from St. Louis for good. Directed by Brian Hohlfeld. Starring Brenda Currin, Bradley James Tejeda, Elizabeth Teeter and Chaunery Kingsford.
• You Lied to Me about Centralia, by John Guare - Picks up the story of Jim, the Gentleman Caller, immediately after he leaves the Wingfield home to meet Betty, his fiancée. It further illuminates the themes of "The Glass Menagerie," leaving us to ponder how a step or two in another direction might have changed everyone's lives. Directed by Rayme Cornell. Starring Chauncy Thomas and Julia Crump.
• Glass by Michael Aman - Takes us forward in time to when "The Glass Menagerie" is about to open in Chicago, on the way to Broadway. In this multi-layered one-act play, the budding playwright meets the lead actress before she goes on. Williams, having spurned his mother, wants to be famous. She, broken by addiction, is about to portray his own mother's character and wants to be famous again. Can this premiere possibly succeed? Directed by Gary Wayne Barker. Starring Bradley James Tejeda and Kari Ely.

Other programming includes two different one-man performances by acclaimed Williams actor Jeremy Lawrence: Tom and Rose and The Man in the Overstuffed Chair. They are drawn from the words and works of Williams and dramatize Williams' relationships with both his sister and his father during his years in St. Louis.

There will also be a Scholars Conference curated by Tom Mitchell (TWStL Scholar-In-Residence), featuring conversations with Houk, Annette Saddick (Professor of Theatre at CUNY), Henry Schvey (Professor of Drama at Washington University), Thomas Keith (Williams editor for New Directions Publishing), with others TBA.

Lead sponsorship of the festival is provided by Emerson. "The Glass Menagerie" is performed by special arrangement with Concord Publishing, Inc and "You Lied to Me About Centralia" is performed by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service.

The full Festival schedule and additional information can be found at https://www.twstl.org.

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