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.
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Windsor Man Promoted to Major in National Guard
WINDSOR, Mass. — Corbin Lounsbury of Windsor was recently promoted to major in the New York Army National Guard.
Major Gen. Ray Shields, the adjutant general for the state of New York, announced the recent promotion of members of the New York Army National Guard in recognition of their capability for additional responsibility and leadership.
Lounsbury, assigned to Cyber Protection Team 173, received a promotion Sept. 5 to the rank of major.
Army National Guard promotions are based on a soldier's overall performance, demonstrated leadership abilities, professionalism, and future development potential. These promotions recognize the best-qualified soldiers for a career in the New York Army National Guard.
There are 20,000 members in New York's Army, Air National Guard, the Naval Militia, and the New York Guard. They are managed by the New York State Division of Military and Naval Affairs, the state's executive agency responsible to the governor.
Guardsmen and women are eligible for monthly pay, educational benefits, international travel, technical and leadership training, health and dental insurance, and contributions towards retirement programs similar to a 401(k).
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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
