By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out”) It has taken nine years for the Tennessee Williams Theatre Company of New Orleans (TWTC) to tackle one of the biggest and most intricately constructed of their namesake playwright’s works, A Streetcar Named Desire, the first to garner him the coveted Pulitzer Prize for Drama. This latest…
By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) The producers from the Tennessee Williams Theatre Company of New Orleans had already planned for a major opening night on March 8 at Marquette Theatre on the Loyola University campus. But what they could not have been prepared for was an afternoon tornado warning, torrential downpours and…
By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) With seven seasons under its belt, the Tennessee Williams Theatre Company of New Orleans, superintended by the diligence of producing artistic directors Augustin Correro and Nick Shackleford, has succeeded in its founding premise: to present authentic works by Williams – especially infrequently produced and rarely-seen pieces –…
By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) With its undercurrent of racism, statutory rape and threatened castration, Tennessee Williams’ Sweet Bird of Youth is not a play for the meek. Set in the 1950s, it is a story of two desperate characters seeking salvation in the fictional town of St. Cloud, Mississippi. The first…
By ALAN SMASON Tennessee Williams’ last play on Broadway was the terribly titled Clothes for a Summer Hotel, which lasted for 14 performances before it shut down. The play bears the explanatory subtitle “A Ghost Play” and that should have given critics and audiences alike an explanation that the historic characters being portrayed – specifically…
By ALAN SMASON If, as the adage says, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then satire must be the epitome of adoration. Two one-act plays by famed playwright Christopher Durang and another by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa have served to turn the tables for longtime fans of Tennessee Williams, accustomed as they are to themes of…
By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) When co-artistic directors Augustin Correro and Nick Shackleford founded the Tennessee Williams Theatre Company four years ago, they insisted their intent was to bring the collected works of their namesake playwright to New Orleans stages with emphasis on his more obscure and lesser-performed titles in addition to the mainstays…
By ALAN SMASON, Theatre Critic, WYES-TV (“Steppin’ Out“) Tennessee Williams was in many ways a man before his time and a man deeply concerned about his place in American theatre history. Following the successes of The Glass Menagerie, A Streetcar Named Desire and The Rose Tattoo, Williams turned his attention to a project that dealt…
