Produced by Fugitive Productions

Author: Doug Tompos

Fringe New York City Previews

http://nytheatre.com/nytheatre/fr_prevdetail.php?0=T&1=solo

1. What is your show about and what can audiences expect when they see it?

It’s basically a Tennessee Williams play about Tennessee Williams, so … Desire. Isn’t that what all his plays are about? The things that can attract but also destroy. Sex, creativity, even being honest about who we are. I didn’t want to write a conventional bio play — no "old man looking back on his life" scenario — but a vital, intimate look at the young Tennessee at the peak of his genius. He’s 34, alone in New York, his first hit The Glass Menagerie has just opened (an event he described as "The Catastrophe of Success"), and he’s struggling to reconcile what was with what is. It’s a very human dilemma — who am I and how do I move forward? — all told, of course, with Tennessee’s insight, humanity, and dry wit.

The search for truth and connection in an increasingly brutal world is perhaps even more relevant today than in 1945. Tennessee was always a great champion of society’s outsider — the "Fugitive Kind", as he put it — and I’ve tried to give voice to perhaps the ultimate outsider, an artist and a gay man unable to honestly express himself except through his plays. Tennessee was also a great raconteur, so the combination of his charm, humor and an unflinching look at his private life creates a unique and, I hope, provocative evening for people. There’s also quite a bit about a dead poet he’s in love with, but I’ll leave it at that!

Although it was very well received in L.A., I’ve always felt this is a New York play — smart, sexy, and geared toward a theatre-loving audience. And for me it’s a real homecoming. I haven’t been back for a while, and I’m really thrilled to get to play again in my hometown.