Tennessee Williams Festival
Returns To Provincetown September 25

Featuring Olympia Dukakis,
Performances of “The Eccentricities of a Nightingale,”
“The Night of the Iguana” and “Green Eyes”

The third annual Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theater Festival, a four-day celebration of the work, life and legacy of America’s great playwright, Tennessee Williams, will take place from September 25 - 28.

The unique theatrical event will feature a talented and diverse group of artists expressing the power of love in works written and inspired by Williams through several performance outlets.

Known as America's longest-running artist colony, Provincetown is the setting where Williams found love and sanctuary and wrote some of his most famous masterpieces. Each year Festival events advance a theme related to Williams, this year focusing on the playwright's healing vision of love.

Curated by David Kaplan, the 2008 Festival will feature a dozen events, including live performances, tours and conversations with the actors.

Among the highlights of this year's Festival:

Stage and screen star Olympia Dukakis will discuss her experiences performing Williams’ works over six decades.

The Actors Company Theatre of New York will offer the love scenes from their critically acclaimed production of Williams' “The Eccentricities of a Nightingale.”

The New England Conservatory of Music will present “Love Songs from Summer and Smoke,” a concert version of the opera “Summer and Smoke,” based on Williams’ play and directed by Marc Astafan. Music is by Lee Hoiby with a libretto by Lanford Wilson.

From Portugal, the Teatro do Bolhão will bring to the Festival its production of Williams' “The Night of the Iguana.” Directed by João Paulo Costa and performed in Portuguese with English translation, the play focuses on a priest who has lost his faith, concluding with one of Williams’ most powerful affirmations of faith and the possibilities of love.

Los Angeles actress Jaimi Page (“Diagnosis X”) will star in the world premiere of Williams’ erotic “Green Eyes,” in which a young couple in a hotel in New Orleans’ French Quarter wakes up from their honeymoon. “Green Eyes” will be paired with Williams’ early "Adam and Eve on a Ferry," a play about a young woman who visits D.H. Lawrence for advice. In "Ferry," Page will appear with Robertson Dean (“Forgiving the Franklins”). Both pieces will be directed by Festival Director Jef Hall-Flavin.

“The Dog Enchanted by the Divine View” (Williams’ first version of “The Rose Tattoo”) will be paired with the triple Academy Award-winning 1955 film of “The Rose Tattoo.” "Divine View" will feature Norton Award-winning actor Larry Coen and the original “Tina” from “Tony N’ Tina’s Wedding,” Nancy Cassaro.

The street theater company Brooklyn on Foot will return to the Festival with “Camino Real,” recently performed at the New Orleans Tennessee Williams Festival, and directed by Sarah V. Michelson. Surrounding a swimming pool, the troupe of five actors, aided by a musician and a garbage can, will embody such legendary personalities as Jacques Casanova, Lord Byron, Camille and Don Quixote.

Former Los Angeles Times journalist Gregg Barrios has written a new play about Williams and his Mexican partner, Pancho Rodriguez, entitled “Rancho Pancho,” which will be brought to the Festival by the Classic Theatre of San Antonio.

DanceLoop Chicago will premiere “Lorita!,” a dance adaptation of Williams’ short story "Happy August 10th."

The annual short plays collection written by local playwrights and based on a theme from Williams, is entitled “Young Love” and features 10-minute works from the New Provincetown Players.

The “TW Tour of the Town” will be conducted throughout the weekend, visiting important sites related to Williams and his plays.

Additional performances and events will be announced in the near future.

Festival passes, including access to all 12 shows, are available online at www.twptown.org or through 1-866-789-TENN (8366). Audience members can also become patrons by purchasing a Williams Pass, which includes tickets to all performances as well as access to exclusive parties, events and more. Single tickets will go on sale in August.

-- OnStage Boston