Apr. 5, 2007
Williams’ ‘Garden District’ to take the stage this Friday
Jason E. Weber
weberj@marietta.edu
A unique pairing of plays is set to open this weekend at Marietta College: “Garden District” by Tennessee Williams, the collective title of two shorter pieces, “Something Unspoken” and “Suddenly Last Summer.” The production will have its Marietta College premiere this Friday night at 8:00 p.m. in the Friedrich Theatre of the Hermann Fine Arts Center.
The common tissue in these plays is initially hard to find, and it is a question for audiences as to why Williams decided to pair them together for their first joint performance in 1958.
Faculty director, Jeff Cordell, says in his program note for the plays, “Williams packaged [the plays] to fill contemporary expectations for an evening's entertainment on Broadway… Since that time, the plays have been seldom produced as a pair in either professional or academic settings.”
Acknowledging this problem, the production team has attempted to find thematic consistencies between the two plays.
“By popular critical agreement,” Amelia Bitely, a Marietta College student, writes in her program notes, “‘Something Unspoken’ and ‘Suddenly Last Summer’ both address covert homosexuality, as well as the difficulties experienced by the mid-twentieth century closeted homosexual when she or he attempts to express this identity.”
The twenty-minute “Something Unspoken” is about a mature lesbian couple, Miss Cornelia Scott (Karen Putman) and Miss Grace Lancaster (Beck Hardt), and their inability to acknowledge their love for each other, their “something unspoken.”
The second play is significantly longer and features a much more complex cast. It takes place in the Garden District of New Orleans and deals with a mother in search of the truth about the death and life of her son, Sebastian. The mother, Violet Venable (Rebecca McCullough) calls her son's cousin and the only witness to his death, Catherine Holly (Dominique Antommarchi), to her house to tell her what happened. Unfortunately, no one wants to believe her.
“Suddenly Last Summer” also features Andrew Wind as Dr. Cukrowicz, Maggie Smith as Sister Felicity, Beth Bradley as Mrs. Holly, Scott Nyitray as George Holly, and Katie Lantz as Miss Foxhill.
“Garden District” opens Friday night at 8:00 p.m. The production runs Saturday and Sunday at 8:00 p.m. and then again next Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 8:00 p.m. in the Friedrich Theatre of the Hermann Fine Arts Center at Fourth and Butler Streets.
Tickets are $8.00 for adults, $7.00 for seniors, $6.00 for children and students, and free for all Marietta College Faculty, Staff, and Students. For more information or to make reservations call the box office at (740) 376-4678.
