In honor of the centenary anniversary of Tennessee Williams’ birth, the Department of Theatre in the College of Charleston School of the Arts will present “Five by Tenn,” an evening of five of the writer’s short, one-act plays. The production will run Wednesday, Jan. 18 through Sunday, Jan. 22 with a second run from Tuesday, Jan. 24 through Sunday, Jan. 29. Curtain times will be at 7:30 p.m., except the Sunday shows at 3 p.m. only, at the Chapel Theatre, 172 Calhoun St.
Tickets may be purchased at the box office or by telephone (843) 953-6306. Admission is $15 for general admission and $10 for College of Charleston students, faculty and staff and senior citizens 60 and older. Half-season subscriptions are available. The “talkback” discussions with the cast and crew will take place opening night following the performance.
American writer Thomas Lanier “Tennessee” Williams (1911-1983) gained recognition as one of America’s greatest 20th century playwrights with the success of “The Glass Menagerie, “A Streetcar Named Desire,” “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” and several other plays. With his lyrical, yet visceral language, Williams depicts plaintive characters under the most pressing of circumstances. His plays garnered several New York Drama Critics‚ Circle awards, two Pulitzer Prizes, and a Tony award. In 1980 President Jimmy Carter honored Williams with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the United States.
Williams’ fall from favor began as he departed from the familiar form of wistfully romantic popular successes like “The Glass Menagerie.” Despite critical backlash, he experimented with nonrealistic styles, nonlinear plot forms, and unsympathetic characters. As a serious student of both American and European theatre, Williams was well aware of the modern movement in theatre away from realism and towards avant-garde expressions of a post-war world. Williams’ career, spanning over forty years, moved in much the same direction.
The short plays featured in “Five by Tenn” are sampled from representative stages in Williams’ career and are directed by various faculty in the College’s theatre department. Directed by Joy Vandervort-Cobb the dreaming, derelict “Lady of Larkspur Lotion” is largely a reflection of his early career as a poverty-stricken writer in New Orleans. Directed by Allen Lyndrup, “The Pretty Trap,” a short predecessor of “The Glass Menagerie,” tests the romantic realist techniques and sentiments that would soon spark Williams’ wild success. “Talk to Me Like the Rain,” directed by Paul Rolfes, comes at the pinnacle of his popular success, and previews his soon to follow delve into substance abuse and depression. The fascist-farce “The Municipal Abattoir,” directed by Franklin Ashley, captures Williams’ political consciousness at the start of the 1960s with its thinly veiled critique South American dictators. Finally, the post-apocalyptic “Chalky White Substance,” directed by Jay Ball, raises spiritual and cultural (not to mention sexual) complaints of a man at the end of his career. “Five by Tenn” offers a comprehensive glimpse of Williams’ wide-ranging and long enduring success.
The production features a cast of 16 of the theatre department’s student stars: David Beckett, Andie Boyd, Matthias Burrell, Austin Cantrell, Cameron Christensen, Marguerite Conroy, Lindsey Kush, George Metropolis, Lucy McNerney, Michelle Miller, Robert Prevatt, Jr., Tremaine Rapp, Nicholas Smith, Anna Stephenson, Hannah Strickland and Hunter Watson.
Various crewmembers worked on the five productions including lighting designers Jerrad Aker, Robert Townsend and Zachary Elliot; costume designers Katie Rhoden, Gail Thoren, Alanda Parker, Chloe Moore and Melissa Hulett; choreographer Meg Fannin-Buckner; and scenic designer and technical director Patrick Ruff.