Tennessee Williams Centennial Week

This week is noted as Tennessee Williams Centennial Week. Several locations are celebrating Tennessee Williams this week. Here are  some links I have found.  What other activities do you know about? Please share! Check out old posts on the Tennessee Williams segment of the 4Ws Writing Institute.

What is your favorite Tennessee Williams play? I truly miss my 4Ws Colleagues!

Tennessee Williams - The Clarion Ledger

Tennessee Williams Centennial Celebration

STELLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

English actress calls Clarksdale visit ‘invaluable’
Golden Globe nominee to portray Stella in ‘Streetcar Named Desire’

CLARKSDALE – When English actress Ruth Wilson takes center stage as Stella in “Streetcar named Desire” in London this summer, she’ll be remembering Clarksdale’s Cutrer Mansion, Moon Lake, and Mississippi Delta plantation homes.

To immerse herself in the world of Tennessee Williams, this raven-haired beauty and Golden Globe nominee, traveled here to experience the playwright’s childhood home and its influences on his famous plays.

Among the sites she viewed were St. George’s Episcopal Church, the Cutrer Mansion and Clarksdale’s historic district where the spent his childhood, the Stovall and Anderson plantations, Uncle Henry’s Place on Moon Lake, and miles of green Mississippi River levees, farmland, and cypress brakes.

Wilson’s performance in the Masterpiece Theatre television series “Jane Eyre” earned her four Best Actress nominations including a Golden Globe. In a BBC Best Actress viewer poll she was rated second.

The role of Stella’s sister Blanche Dubois is being portrayed by Academy Award winner Rachel Weisz, who won a 2006 Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in the movie, “The Constant Gardner.”

“This visit to Clarksdale has been invaluable,” Wilson says. “For me as an actor, it is very important to fill my body and mind with sense memories.”

“So on stage when I talk about Belle Reve (the Cutrer Mansion is generally regarded as the ancestral home of sisters Stella and Blanche in “Streetcar”) or Moon Lake, I have an immediate and natural reaction to those places, those people,” she says.

“It is a way for me to immerse myself in the world of the play; I can literally hear, smell, feel, and see those places, those people,” she continues.

Wilson says Moon Lake was particularly interesting because of its isolation from Clarksdale.

“Being surrounded by a fast flowing river gave it a romanticism and sereneness, but also a deep sense of danger,” she says.

“You could understand why Tennessee depicted it as a place of wild freedom and danger,” she continues.

To learn more about the South, Wilson began her travels in Charleston, South Carolina, and moved on to Savannah through Alabama, and Mississippi to New Orleans.

“What was common about people from the South and what I loved was not only the wonderful generosity, but also incredible humor,” she says.

“You all have such quick minds, but slow mouths; it is the Tennessee (Williams) way of speaking – funny and sharp but rhythmic and languid; it is completely unique and completely beautiful – I hope I can re-create some of that,” she said.

“The more I read of Tennessee’s work, the more poetry I find. He had such a beautiful and rhythmic way with words. I feel very lucky to have been given the opportunity to put voice to them,” Wilson adds.

Wilson says “Streetcar” opens July 28 in London at the Donmar Theatre that is currently producing “Hamlet” with Jude Law.Other actors have spent time in Clarksdale researching Tennessee Williams plays including English actress Frances O'Conner who played Maggie in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" in London and actors from France who performed in "Orpheus Descending."

Clarksdale’s 17th Mississippi Delta Tennessee Williams Festival will be held Oct. 16-17 and will continue its focus on the playwright’s Delta plays including “Spring Storm,” “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” “Summer and Smoke,” “Orpheus Descending,” and others.

A “Stella” shouting contest is a popular component of the festival’s Student Acting Competition. For additional information and updates, view http://www.coahomacc.edu/twilliams.

Photo cutlines: English actress Ruth Wilson, a Best Actress Golden Globe nominee, visits Clarksdale’s historic Cutrer Mansion to experience sites from the world of playwright Tennessee Williams for her portrayal of Stella in the play, ‘Streetcar Named Desire.’ Giving her a tour of the mansion that is generally regarded as Belle Reve, the ancestral home, of Stella and Blanche in ‘Streetcar’ is Lois McMurchy, director of the Coahoma County Higher Education Center.

The 4Ws Spread!

Beth Bunce, 4Ws participant and Northwest Mississippi Community College (NWCC) English instructor, will provide 1-hour CEU credit for a week-long class discussion on Tennessee Williams for educators!

Look what you have done Colby!

Long Live the 4Ws! ~Maggie

The Tennessee Williams Rewrite

I did it! I did a Tennessee Williams rewrite!

My plan was to write about poetry this week, but then I looked at the calendar and freaked. My column's deadline is Wednesday at 12 p.m. and Welty's birthday is Monday. The newspapers tend to stagger my appearance with The Southern Reporter running the next day, Thursday, and The DeSoto Times-Tribune running two weeks later. The other three papers run Book Talk in the following week's edition.

It was either write it today or skip it all together. I decided to follow in Williams' footsteps and rewrite the post from Monday. I thought of Williams while in my panic. I remember Colby telling us he would rewrite over and over until he got the response he wanted from the audience. I want to provide the 4W readers with information. I want newspaper readers to pick up a book, any book, even if it is to throw at me!

Here is this week's Book Talk...Duck! ~Maggie

Shout Out to Panny Mayfield! Thanks for the article!

We had an awesome time during our discussion of Tennesse Williams in Clarksdale, MS! Panny Mayfield was an exceptional host. Check out an article in the Clarksdale Press Register about our visit! Hope you enjoy!

Thomas Lanier Williams (1911 ~ 1983)

When I stop working the rest of the day is posthumous. I'm only really alive when I'm writing.

~ Tennessee Williams

Plays

27 Wagons Full of Cotton and Other One Act Plays (1945)
The Glass Menagerie (1945)
Battle of Ages (1945)
A Streetcar Named Desire (won Pulitzer Prize 1947)
You Touched Me! (1947)
American Blues (1948)
Summer and Smoke (1948)
The Rose Tattoo (1951)
I Rise a Flame, Cried the Phoenix (1951)
This Property is Condemned (1952)
Camino Real (1953)
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (won Pulitzer Prize 1955)
Baby Doll (screenplay 1956)
Suddenly Last Summer (1958)
Orpheus Descending (revision of Battle of Ages 1958
A Perfect Analysis is Given by a Parrot (1958)
Garden District (1959)
Sweet Bird of Youth (1959)
The Fugitive Kind (1960)
Period of Adjustment (1960)
The Night of the Iguana (1961)
Five Plays (1962)
The Eccentricities of a Nightingale (1964)
Grand (1964)
The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore (1964)
The Mutilated (1967)
Kingdom of the Earth (1968)
In the Bar of a Tokyo Hotel (1969)
Dragon Counting, A Book of Plays (1970)
The Two-Character Play (1971)
Small Craft Warnings (1973)
Outcry (1973)
The Red Devil Battery Sign (1975)
Vieux Carre (1979)
A Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur (1980)
Steps Must Be Gentle (1980)
A House Not Meant to Stand (1982)
Clothes for a Summer Hotel: A Ghost Play (1983)
Stopped Rocking and Other Screenplays (1984)
The Remarkable Rooming-House of Mme. LeMonde (1984)
Something Cloudy, Something Clear (1995)
Not About Nightingales (1998)

Collections of Short Stories

The Vengeance of Nitocris (1928)
The Field of Blue Children (1939)
The Resemblance Between a Violin Case and a Coffin (1951)
Hard Candy: a Book of Stories (1954)
Three Players of a Summer Game and Other Stories (1960)
The Knightly Quest: a Novella and Four Short Stories (1966)
One Arm and Other Stories (1967)
Eight Mortal Ladies Possessed: a Book of Stories (1974)
Tent Worms (1980)
It Happened the day the Sun Rose, and Other Stories (1981)

~ Happy Reading from Maggie

Trip to Clarksdale

A coworker, from Clarksdale, mentioned a front cover spread about our trip in the Clarksdale Press Register, their local newspaper. Click on the link to read the article from March 21, 2009.

The Story is in the Stars

One of the things I find fascinating about our discussions is the underlying myths associated with the stories. I am caught off guard every time and must face my weak education in the area of mythology. I have no excuse with our next assignment. The play's name, Orpheus Descending by Tennessee Williams, smacks of myth.

For your convenience, this post includes a few websites featuring the retelling of Orpheus and Eurydice: two from Virginia Commonwealth University and one from Women in Myth.

The Wikipedia article on Orpheus includes this statement, “The lyre was carried to heaven by the Muses, and was placed among the stars.” I thought it might be nice to include a couple of website on the constellation Lyra: one by Ian Ridpath (my hero) and another by Constellations of Words that contains an etymology. ~ Maggie

Benefits of the Writing Institute

I found a Literature book which I had "borrowed" from my mother's extensive home library. I looked through it and found one of Tennessee Williams’ plays, "The Glass Menagerie." Since it was almost to bedtime for my children, I decided to read it to them. After reading the background information on the characters and the production notes, I began to read scene one. Tom's narration was very interesting. Tom provided important information on the characters. The first part of the scene was very funny. Tom became upset with his mother because she often chastised him about his eating habits. He leaves the dining to smoke as cigarette. Then I read, "No, sister, no, sister - you be the lady this time and I'll be the darky" (Knickerbocker 707). I had to stop. The word, "darky," hit me like a whirlwind. Does Tennessee's Williams avoid using the "N" word to deviate from controversy? If "darky" was deleted, would scene one in the play still have the same meaning? Reading on, I understood the message he was trying to deliver. He wanted the viewer to see the mother's desire to teach Laura how to be waited on instead being the server.

Being a part of the writing institute has transformed my ability to read derogatory words and to see the author’s underlining meaning. It has been a wonderful experience to discuss rather touchy subjects, like racism, in an intellectually stimulating situation. Our monthly discussions have been fundamental in my own ability to interpret what I read and the message the author is trying to portray.

Works Cited

Knickerbocker, K. L. and Reniner, H. Williard. "The Glass Menagerie." Interpreting Literature. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1955.

Facebook and 4Ws

I have created a page for the 4Ws Writing Institute on Facebook. Please support the Writing Institute Facebook page by becoming a fan! I created the page to provide universal exposure for the program. I have enjoyed being a participant in this program, and I want to share my experience with others. Look forward to seeing you online at Facebook!

Exposure to Tennessee Williams

Our past discussion on Tennessee Williams was informative, entertaining, and intriguing. Dr. Kullman enticed us with humor and managed to keep a very interactive discussion going, even though it was "The Love Holiday." I really enjoyed the handouts. He provided so much information to use in the classroom. From images of important landmarks used in Tennessee Williams to frequent themes in his plays, we left with an abundance of information to create essay assignments and to encourage classroom discussions. I am looking forward to our next meeting in Clarksdale, MS.

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Here are a list of resources to discuss Cat on a Hot Tin Roof in the classroom.

1. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof on Broadway
2. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Original Trailer
3. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Study Guide
4. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Lesson Plan

Reading Assignment!

Please read two Delta plays:

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

&

Summer and Smoke
for our next meeting

February 14, 2009

Literary Conversation Series

The Literary Conversation Series focuses on collecting interviews with notable writers. Check out these collections of interviews from some of my favorite authors and noteworthy authors!

• Conversations with Amiri Baraka
• Conversations with August Wilson
• Conversations with Eudora Welty - Written by Dr. Prenshaw!
• Conversations with Gwendolyn Brooks
• Conversations with Margaret Walker
• Conversations with Tennessee Williams

NewTube Your Classroom!

YouTube is everywhere. Kids watch diet colas spurt into the air after adding one, little candy Mentos. Coworkers sit mesmerized through a ton of pass-along e-mails such as this Christmas favorite. Sheri, our Natchez videographer, is working on placing her work on Teacher Tube for the classroom. Even I—the book person—sat through an hour long lecture on my laptop instead of buying The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch.

Streaming video is the future, and I am pleased to present a website that provides this service. Films on Demand is a sub-group of the Meridian Films Media Group that provide films on VHS, DVD, DVD and 3-year streaming , or 3-year streaming. It is expensive, $149.95, but the cost includes public performance rights. The librarian or media specialist can pay through the library’s budget, and provide one with a laptop and display monitor. All a teacher needs is a blank wall or screen and the willingness to teach.

On this website I found: Africa to America to Paris: The Migration of Black Writers (53min) that includes Richard Wright for 12th graders or college freshmen, Tennessee Williams and the American South (45min) for grades 11 & 12, and Eudora Welty’s A Worn Path (32min) for grades 9 & 10. An interview with Miss Welty by Beth Henley concludes the short film. ~ Maggie

Note: The photograph is a still from the film. Notice the details like the sunken Natchez Trace, her lack of coat, and the umbrella skeleton. ~ Maggie

Southern Literary Trailfest March 2009

Playing around on the Internet, I found a site about the Southern Literary Trailfest being held next year in March. Covering our four authors of choice, (Welty, Wright, Williams, and Walker) I thought I would share this wonderful information with you. Being held in Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi, it is a great opportunity to further increase our knowledge surrounding the legacies of these four writers, as well as many others. For travel information visit www.southernliterarytrail.org/travel.html. The website contains contact information of the various entities associated with the festival, as well as sponsors!