March 01, 2007
Candles in the Sun: Tennesse Williams Comes Home
Right around Fat Tuesday, Channel 9 ran a special on New Orleans. I tuned in halfway, and was most curious to see that a huge chunk of the narrative was dedicated to St. Louis' own Tom Williams, better known to the world as Tennesse. I feel a bit of kinship with Mr. Williams, as he and I both spent some time clerking at a local shoe company which I'll leave unnamed; anyhow, I've always had a certain affection for his work, which has only been boosted by living here in St. Louis where he grew up. Though I don't know if I can ever go back and read "The Glass Menagerie" after getting married in the Jewel Box (I had much better luck with gentleman callers than poor Laura).
To celebrate the 70th anniversary of the first full-length production of a Williams play, the theatre department up at Urbana-Champaign is coming to town to do a staged reading of "Candles in the Sun" at the West End building, which was
known as the Wednesday club back in TW's day, where the play was first staged in 1937. The $10 admission goes to The Learning Center; you can get more info by dialing 314.361.1908. I should mention that this event was posted at the Left Bank Books site ... and that they have some other zingers coming up on their calendar, including appearances by Jonathan Lethem and Nikki Giovanni.