Steve Lawson remembers falling asleep while Tennessee Williams read his poems to a small group at the Williams Inn after a Williamstown Theatre Festival cabaret.
“It was about 3 in the morning, his poems were long and Whitman-esque, and he kept starting over. I'd doze off; wake up to find him staring at me,†Lawson recalled. “Finally, the playwright said, ‘Steve, boy, you’re looking a little strung out, aren’t you?’
“I thought, ‘You’ve been insulted by Tennessee Williams, now you've really arrived.â€
“He was one of those people I feel very glad and lucky to have met,†said Lawson.
Lawson, for the past three years executive director of the Williamstown Film Festival, was then literary manager with the WTF, where he held numerous posts. And Tennessee Williams came to WTF in 1979 for the second production of his Camino Real, which he termed its best production, and again in 1982, the year before his death, for a two-night, seven-hour theatrical tribute.
“I was literary manager at the time, and when I invited him to the WTF, he asked, ‘Where is Williamsburg, anyway?’ I thought, ‘We’ll send a car.’
“He had a ball. He had a marvelous time,†said Lawson, who is more widely known as writer and story editor for the television series St. Elsewhere.
Now, Lawson’s one-man show, Letters from Tennessee: A Distant Country Called Youth, is being performed at the Hartford (Conn.) State Company’s Stage, Too series, through Jan. 27 in Hartford.
The production is the anchor show of Hartford Stage’s fourth installment of the Williams Marathon, a retrospective of the playwright’s canon featuring full productions, readings, lectures and films.
Letters from Tennessee: A Distant Country Called Youth highlights letters — humorous and often highly personal — from the budding genius to family, friends and professional associates. Williams reveals his tormented family life, distant travels and casual lovers that provided the basis for his early masterpieces The Glass Menagerie and A Streetcar Named Desire.
A Distant Country Called Youth is adapted from letters included in The Selected Letters of Tennessee Williams, Volume 1: 1920-45, edited by Albert J. Devlin, professor of English at the University of Missouri, and Nancy M. Tischler, professor emerita of English at Pennsylvania State University, and published by New Directions. A distillation of 90 of that volume’s 430 letters, the play was first presented as part of Manhattan Theatre Club’s famed Writers in Performance series — which Lawson also directs — last May. It is performed at Hartford Stage by a series of actors, the first of them Richard Thomas, and including John Michael Higgins, Andrew McCarthy, James Colby, Campbell Scott, John Feltch and Mark Lamos, formerly artistic director of Hartford Stage.
Besides the actor reading from a script on a stand, the production includes an upstage screen on which are projected slides of Williams, his mother, sister, brother, and friends.
Lawson, who is also directing this production, focuses on the text, which follows Williams through his early literary efforts and a sojourn in Mexico up to the opening of The Glass Menagerie and the start of the work that would become A Streetcar Named Desire.
“When I read the letters I thought, ‘This is the Tennessee that no one knows,’ †Lawson said.
“We know him from Menagerie, but very few people know how he got there,†he said.
“It’s fascinating seeing him trying out different selves, different identities — even using different signatures — seeing him finding his way as a person, and as a budding writer,†he said. “You can hear the references, and the seeds of his later plays.â€
“Sometimes my hair stood on end,†said Lawson. “He wrote to the editor of Poetry magazine, ‘Dear Miss Monroe, Would you do a total stranger the kindness of reading his verse?’ This was 20 years before A Streetcar Named Desire, with Blanche DuBois’ reliance on the kindness of strangers.â€
“The last letter recounts The Glass Menagerie’s opening on Broadway, and Williams working on a new play that would become Streetcar,†said Lawson. “It’s just great.â€
Lawson was contacted by Michael Wilson, the Hartford Stage’s artistic director, to replace the previously scheduled Dragon Country, with his production, a call Lawson characterizes as “a gift out of the blue.â€
The Manhattan Theatre Club production had been only one night.
“It seemed like a different play with each of these actors,†said Lawson. And although there are no plans yet for additional productions, Lawson said, “One always hopes there will be a further life for a play.â€
For tickets, call the Hartford Stage box office at (860) 527-5151 or visit www.hartfordstage.org. Groups of 10 or more receive special discount rates by calling Hartford Stage Group Sales at (860) 525-5601, ext. 111.
If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.
Your Comments
iBerkshires.com welcomes critical, respectful dialogue. Name-calling, personal attacks, libel, slander or foul language is not allowed. All comments are reviewed before posting and will be deleted or edited as necessary.
No Comments
RFP Ready for North County High School Study
By Tammy Daniels iBerkshires Staff
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The working group for the Northern Berkshire Educational Collaborative last week approved a request for proposals to study secondary education regional models.
The members on Tuesday fine-tuned the RFP and set a date of Tuesday, Jan. 20, at 4 p.m. to submit bids. The bids must be paper documents and will be accepted at the Northern Berkshire School Union offices on Union Street.
Some members had penned in the first week of January but Timothy Callahan, superintendent for the North Adams schools, thought that wasn't enough time, especially over the holidays.
"I think that's too short of a window if you really want bids," he said. "This is a pretty substantial topic."
That topic is to look at the high school education models in North County and make recommendations to a collaboration between Hoosac Valley Regional and Mount Greylock Regional School Districts, the North Adams Public Schools and the town school districts making up the Northern Berkshire School Union.
The study is being driven by rising costs and dropping enrollment among the three high schools. NBSU's elementary schools go up to Grade 6 or 8 and tuition their students into the local high schools.
The feasibility study of a possible consolidation or collaboration in Grades 7 through 12 is being funded through a $100,000 earmark from the Fair Share Act and is expected to look at academics, faculty, transportation, legal and governance issues, and finances, among other areas.
The city has lifted a boil water order — with several exceptions — that was issued late Monday morning following several water line breaks over the weekend. click for more
The bridge had been closed to all vehicle traffic since March 2023 after being deemed structurally deficient by the state Department of Transportation. click for more
The Water Department has been responding to multiple water line breaks throughout the city since Friday, causing temporary loss of water in some areas. click for more
Nearly a year of study and community input about the deteriorating Veterans Memorial Bridge has resulted in one recommendation: Take it down. click for more
