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Academy Award nominee Danny Aiello will read during the New York benefit. |
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Tennessee Williams (left) and Gloria Hope Sher (center) in her New York apartment. |
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Opening remarks
Tennessee Williams Festival kicks off with a benefit and a reading
By Sue Harrison
Banner Staff
Although the Tennessee Williams Festival in Provincetown is almost eight months away, the curtain will rise on the first act soon. In conjunction with Williams’ birthday, March 26, the festival is holding two events in New York City — a fund-raising party on March 25 and a staged reading of an unpublished Williams’ play, “Sun Burst,” on March 26.
The party, being held at the home of Broadway producer Gloria Hope Sher, will feature Oscar-nominated actor Danny Aiello reading “The Timeless World of a Play,” the introduction to Williams’ play “The Rose Tattoo.”
There is a suggested donation of $250 per person but larger donations are welcome, says festival curator David Kaplan. To reserve a spot, call festival executive director P.J. Layng at (508) 237-2501.
Sher, a long-time friend of Williams, produced plays and films during her career. The relationship with Williams began after she became enamored of his play “Eccentricities of a Nightingale,” which she saw in 1976.
“She came to Buffalo in a snow storm to see ‘Eccentricities’ and the weather was so bad she had to be brought to the theater in a sled,” Kaplan says. “She was so moved, she wept and said, ‘I’ll bring this to Broadway.’”
Sher was true to her word and mounted the production in New York, becoming friends with the playwright along the way. When the play opened, he appreciatively signed her program, “Stay in my life to keep me alive.”
Her East Side apartment building had a pool. Williams liked to swim every day, and soon he was taking his morning swim at her pool and coming up for lunch. They must have become quite close, Kaplan says, because Williams even brought his sister Rose to Sher’s apartment, something the normally very protective Williams would only have done if he felt quite comfortable.
Kaplan, a Williams historian as well as director and author, says he met Sher when he was doing research on “Eccentricities” for his own production. Now, with the Provincetown festival gearing up for its second year, he says a party at Sher’s seemed a natural fund-raising opportunity.
She called Aiello and he agreed to read.
Part of a generation of actors influenced by Williams, Aiello is said to have always wanted to play the male lead in “The Rose Tattoo.” But after looking over the play to pick a section to read for the benefit, he decided that none of the monologues were quite right for the event. He called Kaplan and asked him if he was familiar with the introduction and said he wanted to read that. Kaplan says the introduction, a rare prose piece by Williams, is beautiful and a perfect choice.
Aiello is often cast as the tough guy for his rugged good looks and solid build but has other sides as well. In addition to playing in “The Godfather II,” “The Purple Rose of Cairo” and “Moonstruck,” he was nominated for an Academy Award for his portrayal of the pizza owner in Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing.” He even played the non-understanding father in Madonna’s video, “Poppa Don’t Preach.”
In addition to acting, Aiello’s a crooner with a new CD coming out soon. Will he sing at the party? Kaplan is not saying.
On Monday, March 26, the second night of the New York mini-fest, the Blue Roses Company, a theater company dedicated to the work of Williams, will host the reading of “Sun Burst” at 7:30 p.m. at the Sage Theater, 711 Seventh Ave. in Manhattan. In addition to “Sun Burst,” the company will read new plays based on Williams’ last book of poetry, “Androgyne, Mon Amour.”
Patrick Falco, who frequently works with the New Provincetown Players, will direct, and the two leads will be read by Beverly Bentley and Brian Patacca. Tickets are $20, available at the door or by calling (212) 252-4915. To make reservations online, email to: theatre@blueroses.org.
Bentley plays the part of a retired great actress who is famous for her big diamond ring called Sun Burst. Patacca plays an Italian gigolo who holds Bentley hostage while trying to figure out how to get the ring off her finger. He calls in another gigolo and they consider options, such as, should they just cut her finger off? Bentley takes it in stride and begins to recite Shakespearean poetry to them. It is a play, like many of Williams’ later works, about bondage and release, Kaplan says.
Bentley and Patacca will reprise their roles and Falco will direct when the play comes to Provincetown for its fully staged world premiere during the Tennessee Williams Festival. Patacca has appeared in several NPP shows, and Bentley is well known on the Cape for her long and accomplished stage and screen work. She’s a mature actress with a deep well of skills that is exactly what the role in “Sun Burst” calls for.
“You want to play music on instruments with some resonance to them,” Kaplan says.
And, the inside word is that there will be other world premiere Williams’ plays unveiled at the Provincetown festival.
“Sun Burst” fits well with the overall theme of this fall’s festival, which Kaplan has tentatively titled “The Late Late Show.” It will feature works Williams wrote after he turned 60.
“These plays were not respected in their time,” Kaplan says. “In some cases, Williams stopped showing them even to his agent.”
Despite the lack of critical support when they were written, Kaplan says the plays hold up. They are generally shorter works and definitely have a different cadence from the playwright’s earlier work.
The Provincetown festival is set for Sept. 27-30 at various venues and features film, dance, poetry, photography and music as well as performances of the plays themselves. The Provincetown location is a reminder of the connection Williams had to Provincetown. He spent several summers in town and wrote some of his plays during those stays.
For additional information on the Tennessee Williams Festival, log on to www.twptown.org.
artseditor@provincetownbanner.com
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In the Arts
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Mar 8th, 2007