Tennessee Williams Festival

About the Event

9TH ANNUAL TENNESSEE WILLIAMS FESTIVAL ST. LOUIS

3:00 pm: CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF

Directed by Michael Wilson

Grandel Theatre, Grand Center (3610 Grandel Square, St. Louis, MO 63103)

A gut-wrenching display of toxic familial tensions and ladened southern gothic power structures, this piece will serve as the centerpiece of our jaw-dropping 9th Annual Festival. This Pulitzer Prize winning drama follows the story of the Pollitts, a wealthy southern family whose history of greed and deception looms overhead as the imminent death of the family’s patriarch approaches. Siblings and spouses go head to head to secure the Pollitt fortune, weaving an overwhelming web of mistruths.

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4:00pm: LIFE UPON THE WICKED STAGE A COLLECTION OF ONE-ACTS BY TENNESSEE WILLIAMS

Directed by Brian Hohlfield

Curtain Call Lounge, Grand Center

Almost 100 years ago, what we now call Grand Center in St. Louis was the place to go for entertainment. Vaudeville was struggling but still popular, double-features (with live acts in between) played all day at the Fox and Missouri theaters, music poured from dance halls and clubs, and the hotels were packed with the touring casts of last year’s Broadway’s hits.

Young Tom Williams soaked it all up.

In celebration of the history and the continuing charm of Grand Center, the Tennessee Williams Festival of St. Louis will present “Life Upon the Wicked Stage,” a program of three one-act plays with music, at the Curtain Call Lounge at the Fox, just steps from the bustling streets and locations where much of the action takes place.

Like the rest of the theatre-going public, Tom was intrigued by what went on backstage, a world he would soon become familiar with, and imagined what the lives of the nomadic show-folk must be like. He brings them to life with affection and bemusement in the one-acts “In Our Profession,” “The Magic Tower,” and “The Fat Man’s Wife,” all set in the 1930s and portraying the ups and downs of a career in show-biz. In these early plays, Williams, still finding his voice, is clearly influenced by the plots and styles of the movies he would have seen on this very street, bringing the experience full circle.

The theatrical but intimate setting of the Curtain Call is perfect for a program about show-biz.

Like a “mini-jukebox musical,” “Life Upon the Wicked Stage” features songs from the period to evoke the era of Vaudeville and the type of entertainment Tom would have encountered in his Grand Avenue outings long long ago..

OTHER EVENTS:

10:00am: Walking Tour of the Grand Avenue Theatre District at  Meeting place: Front of Grandel Theatre

The St. Louis City arts area now known for the Grandel Theatre, the Fabulous Fox Theatre, and Powell Hall, in the 1920s and 30s was home to an even more vibrant theatre and movie scene. The district was also the center of radical young artists. This walking tour will view the neighborhood through the eyes of the young man who was beginning to imagine himself as  Tennessee Williams.

7:00pm: Tennessee Williams Festival OPEN MIC at Curtain Call Lounge, Grand Center

The Tennessee Williams Festival presents a very open mic night…

Bring your talent and be ready to celebrate the first week of the Tennessee Williams Festival St. Louis. Read a poem, act a scene, play an instrument, or sing a song. Tom Clear will be at the piano, so if you plan to sing bring sheet music or a chart in your own key. Or accompany yourself on the instrument of your choice, Or you can just relax, have a drink, and enjoy the entertainment.

Bob Harvey and Chuck Lavazzi are your cheerful co-hosts. No admission or cover, but there is always a tip jar! All proceeds go to the Tennessee Williams Festival St. Louis

Parking: Guests attending this event can park for FREE at the the Fox Club Parking Lot. Inform the attendant you are a guest of the Tennessee Williams Festival at the Curtain Lounge.

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