The Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts will celebrate the master of the sad café in January with "The Kindness of Strangers: An Evening with Tennessee Williams," a series of short plays and monologues. Performances will take place from Thursday, Jan. 20, through Saturday, Jan. 22, at 8 p.m. in the Wien Experimental Theatre.
Mark Graham of Trumbull will direct a cast of professional actors from the Theatre Artists Workshop of Norwalk in a one-act play, "The Lady of Larkspur Lotion," and monologues from three of Williams' classics, "The Night of the Iguana," "The Glass Menagerie" and "Small Craft Warnings." Dan Kelly of Norwalk will direct two additional one-act plays for the evening, "Hello from Bertha" and "Talk to Me Like the Rain."
The three one-act plays offer intriguing insight into Williams' world and trace the beginnings of some of the memorable characters who populated his later works, including Blanche DuBois of "A Streetcar Named Desire" and Amanda from "The Glass Menagerie."
Developed by the Theatre Artists Workshop, the fully staged production includes many actors of this veteran group. They are: Kristin Graham of Trumbull; Joan Grant of Newtown; Eileen Lawless of Norwalk; Ken Parker of Fairfield; Florence Philips of Cos Cob; Sarah Saltus of Bethel; Katie Sparer of Stratford; and Bridgeport resident Tom Zingarelli, executive director of the Quick Center.
Steven Downs of Sleepy Hollow, N.Y., will play original music he wrote for the piece.
This evening of Tennessee Williams is the first of three Quick Center-based theater productions scheduled for the season. The Quick Center will present a show to be announced from March 10 through March 12. The final production is "Danger, People at Large," an evening of short comedies by Fred Stroppel featuring Broadway and television stars Jack Klugman and Brett Somers in their first appearance together in more than 30 years. Performances will take place from April 21 through April 23.
Tickets to the Tennessee Williams program are $25 and seating is limited to 120. For tickets, call the Quick Center box office at (203) 254-4010 or toll free at 1-877-ARTS-396.
Posted On: 01-03-2005 10:01 AM
Volume: 37 Number: 125