Critic John Lahr Talks Tennessee Williams Biography at The Players Tonight

The Shakespeare Guild's 2014-15 season will open with a conversation that will launch the U.S. author tour for a biography that actress Helen Mirren calls "a masterpiece about a genius." Only John Lahr, she says, "with his perceptions about the theater, about writers, about poetry, and about people, could have written this book." John Lahr will discuss his acclaimed biography of Tennessee Williams tonight, September 24, at 6 p.m. at The Players, 16 Gramercy Park South, New York. Admission: $20 in Advance; $25 at the Door.

Dramatist John Guare observes that "Tennessee Williams had two great pieces of luck: Elia Kazan to direct his work, and now John Lahr to make thrilling sense of his life." Director Andre Bishop adds that Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh is a labor of the profoundest love, and it comes from the heart and mind of one of our greatest theater writers."

An award-winning contributor to the New Yorker since 1992, Mr. Lahr has twenty books to his credit, among them a touching memoir, Notes on a Cowardly Lion, about his father Bert Lahr. He has produced evocative profiles of such luminaries as Woody Allen, Judi Dench, Ian McKellen, Mike Nichols, Harold Pinter, and Frank Sinatra. And he is the first reviewer ever to win a Tony Award, as co-author of Elaine Stritch at Liberty in 2002.

According to playwright Tony Kushner, "There's never been an American critic like John Lahr. His writing exalts, honors, and dignifies the profession, and, more importantly, the art."

Fittingly, this program will take place in America's most resonant theatrical shrine, a venerable club that was founded by Edwin Booth. Copies of Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh will be on hand for purchase, and Mr. Lahr will be happy to inscribe them.

Email shakesguild@msn.com or call (505) 988-9560 to reserve space for what promises to be an evening to cherish. And see www.JohnLahr.com for background about Mr. Lahr and his work.