Time to Show St. Louis' Tennessee Williams Some Love During Annual Festival

Society Fundraisers Helped Make This Year’s Festival Possible; Your Support of Festival Itself Will Keep It Thriving

by Grayling Holmes / Photos compliments of The Tennessee Williams Festival

All year has led to September. And now, it’s curtain’s up for the annual Tennessee Williams Festival. Starting Thursday, September 7, the festival kicks into high gear and will showcase some of the work of the St. Louis Bard himself, the Pulitzer Prize-winning prolific playwright, Mr. Tennessee Williams. This spring and summer, society partygoers attended two events to raise funds to “light the stage” and continue to illuminate the genius of his work.

Many of our readers attended these fundraising events:

May 31 — Festival organizers held a cabaret performance of The Brass Menagerie with Amy Jo Jackson - a campy romp through the women of Tennessee Williams…in SONG! This fundraiser was well attended and was held at The Curtain Call Lounge in Grand Center.

August 13 — The home of esteemed artist Katherine Bernhardt was the site of the 2nd Annual Tennessee Williams Festival Pool Party. Dubbed the “Suddenly This Summer Pool Party,” the event honored Ken & Nancy Kranzberg and included a live auction from local artists. It too was well attended. Guests were transported to the shores of the Costa del Sol while they enjoyed Spanish-inspired food and cocktails.

Through ticket sales, hopefully many more will continue to support this worthwhile endeavor from September 7-17 for the festival itself. Tickets are available for all festival events at METROTIX.COM. More information about each event can be found on the TWSTL.org website.

“Suddenly, Last Summer - like A Streetcar Named Desire before it - is drenched in Southern Gothic humidity, sex, passion, and insanity. - Tim Ocel, Director

Tickets are on sale now at METROTIX.com for this fresh retelling of the original Tennessee Williams play.

This fresh retelling of “Suddenly Last Summer,” first performed in 1957, focuses on the life and death of closeted gay poet Sebastian Venable, who is brutally murdered while on a trip to Italy with his cousin Catherine. After the recent tragedy, Mrs. Venable will stop at nothing to keep her son’s (and her own) secrets safe. Generally accepted as a modern day horror story, this play has autobiographical roots from Williams’ own family life. — Carrie Houk, TWSTL Executive Artistic Director

Following are highlights from the 2023 fundraisers:

THE BRASS MENAGERIE — May 31st, The Curtain Call Lounge in Grand Center

Ted Wight, President Tennessee Williams Festival.

Jeff Kapfer, Dave Sewall, Andy Arnold, Corey Meltzer, Jay Perez, Charlie Houska, Ryan Falk, Kyle Crocker.

Mark Howald, Donna Weinsting, Mark Weinsting.

Sigrid Brooks, Matt Mercer, Glenda Jehle.

2nd Annual Tennessee Williams Festival Pool Party — August 13, home of Katherine Bernhardt

***Jay Perez, William Donnius Auction Photo.***

David Schlafy. Trish Schlafly, Lincoln Gray, Natalie Gray.

About the Festival

In 2014, award-winning producer, casting director, and educator Carrie Houk produced Williams’ “Stairs to the Roof” with such success that the ongoing annual Festival was established. The Festival, which aims to enrich the cultural life of St. Louis by producing an annual theater festival and other artistic events that celebrate the artistry and life of Tennessee Williams, was named the Arts Startup of the Year Award by the Arts and Education Council at the 2019 St. Louis Arts Awards. In its seven iterations since 2016, the Festival has attracted thousands to its readings, panel discussions, concerts, exhibitions, and productions, has reached hundreds of young people through its educational programming, and has garnered 13 awards from the St. Louis Theater Circle and was recently nominated for six St. Louis Theater Circle awards for 2022’s “The Rose Tattoo.”

Carrie Houk, Tennessee Williams Festival Artistic Director.

About Tennessee Williams

Born Thomas Lanier Williams III in 1911 in Mississippi, Williams moved to St. Louis at age seven, when his father was made an executive with the International Shoe Company (where the City Museum and the Late Hotel are now located). He lived here for more than two decades, attending Washington University, working at the International Shoe Company, and producing his first plays at local theaters. He credited his sometimes difficult experiences in St. Louis for the deeply felt poetic essence that permeates his artistry. When asked later in life when he left St. Louis, he replied, “I never really left.” Most people are familiar with the famous works that have garnered multiple Pulitzer Prizes, Tony Awards, such as The Glass Menagerie, A Streetcar Named Desire, Cat on A Hot Tin Roof, and Suddenly Last Summer. He also wrote hundreds of additional plays, stories, essays, and poems, many of which are only now seeing the light of day as his estate permits greater access. He is today considered by many leading authorities to be one of America’s greatest playwrights.