Presented by resident scholar Tom Mitchell Beginning at 9:00am
All Panels take place at the Grandel Theatre

Saturday, August 10
9:00am The Mystery in Tennessee’s Stage Directions
Mark Charney, Moderator
Bess Rowen
Tom Mitchell
“Some mystery should be left in the revelation of character in a play” says Tennessee Williams in his stage directions for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. The scripts for his plays always include intriguing details about the characters, settings, motivations and meanings. Although the audience doesn’t read the stage directions, they see the result. This panel will look at what he says about Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and The Magic Tower.”

10:00am The Wicked Stage: Onstage and Backstage in Tennessee Williams’s 1930s St. Louis
Tom Mitchell, Moderator
Daniel McGuire
David Kaplan
Brian Hohlfeld
As a young man in St. Louis, Tom Williams was drawn to the theatre and to the movies. Grand Avenue was illuminated by many movie marquees and enlivened by the people who once filled the neighborhood. We will take stock of the entertainments of St. Louis back in the years when Tennessee was still Tom.

11:00am Cat on a Hot Tin Roof: Revision upon Revision
Mark Charney, Moderator
Michael Wilson
David Kaplan
Tennessee Williams disagreed with stage director Elia Kazan about the ending of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. In the end, the compromise meant that Kazan called the shots on how the play ended onstage, but Tennessee put his desired ending in print. The movie version of the play suffered more revision as the sexual content of the play was tamed for a general audience.

12:00 noon Reading of “Stella for Star” an adaptation of the first award-winning story by the young Tom Williams.
Discovered by Tom Mitchell and adapted for this reading by Joi Hoffsommer and Christine Sevec-Johnson, “Stella for Star” tells the story of Jonathan Swift – author of Gulliver’s Travels – and the woman who he called “Stella.” The beginning of Williams’s fascination with complex female characters, it won first prize from the St. Louis Writers Guild in 1935. Discussion led by Bess Rowen
 
Sunday, Aug 11
10:00 am. Walking Tour of the Grand Avenue Theatre District
Departs from Grandel Theatre
The area now known for the Grandel Theatre, Powell Hall and the Fabulous Fox, once was home to an even more vibrant theatre and movie scene. Nearby was also the center for radical artists. This walking tour will view the neighborhood through the eyes of the young man who was about to become Tennessee Williams. Led by Tennessee Williams Festival Scholar, Tom Mitchell.