TENNESSEE WILLIAMS ON STAGE AND SCREEN Panel Set with Burstyn, Howard and Stritch, 12/9

A panel discussion on the theatre and film works of Tennessee Williams will feature actors Ellen Burstyn, Bryce Dallas Howard, Jodie Markell, Elaine Stritch, and Eli Wallach. Burstyn and Howard are set to star in the newly discovered "The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond" screenplay by Williams. The film is directed by Markell. Charles Isherwood of the New York Times will moderate.

An all-star panel of actors and directors will talk about the enduring legacy of Tennessee Williams, who was among the most important and influential playwrights of the 20th century. The upcoming movie The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond, the directorial debut of actress Jodie Markell, is based on a rediscovered screenplay by Williams. Markell and two of the film's stars, Ellen Burstyn and Bryce Dallas Howard, will be on the panel, along with the legendary Elaine Stritch, who recently presented an evening "The Lighter Side of Tennessee Williams," and the equally legendary Eli Wallach, who made his memorable screen debut in Elia Kazan's Baby Doll. Charles Isherwood, theater critic for The New York Times, will moderate the program. The evening will include scenes from films including A Streetcar Named Desire, Baby Doll, and The Fugitive Kind, and an exclusive look at scenes from The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond.

The discussion will be presented at the Museum of the Moving Image and will coincide with their "Tennessee Williams on Film" festival, to be presented December 5th through 13th. The festival will feature showings of "The Glass Menagerie", "Suddenly, Last Summer", "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof", and "The Fugitive Kind."

Williams lived for a time in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana. He moved there in 1939 to write for the WPA. He first lived at 722 Toulouse Street, the setting of his 1977 play Vieux Carré. The building is part of The Historic New Orleans Collection. He began writing A Streetcar Named Desire (1947) while living at 632 St. Peter Street. He finished it later in Key West, Florida, where he moved in the 1940s. While in New Orleans, Williams met and fell in love with Frank Merlo, a second generation Sicilian American who had served in the U.S. Navy in World War II.

Tennessee was close to his sister Rose, a slim beauty who was diagnosed with schizophrenia at a young age. As was common then, Rose was institutionalized and spent most of her adult life in mental hospitals. When therapies were unsuccessful, she showed more paranoid tendencies. In an effort to treat her, Rose's parents authorized a prefrontal lobotomy, a drastic treatment that was thought to help some mental patients who suffered extreme agitation. Performed in 1937 in Knoxville, Tennessee, the operation incapacitated Rose for the rest of her life.

Williams never forgave his parents. Her surgery may have contributed to his alcoholism and his dependence on various combinations of amphetamines and barbiturates often prescribed by Dr. Max (Feelgood) Jacobson.

Williams worked extremely briefly in the renowned Gotham Book Mart in Manhattan, lasting less than a day.

Williams' relationship with Frank Merlo lasted from 1947 until Merlo's death from cancer in 1963. With that stability, Williams created his most enduring works. Merlo provided balance to many of Williams' frequent bouts with depression and the fear that, like his sister Rose, he would go insane.

The "mad heroine" theme that appeared in many of his plays seemed clearly influenced by the life of Williams' sister Rose. Characters in his plays are often seen as representations of his family members. Laura Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie was understood to be modeled on Rose. Some biographers believed that the character of Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire is also based on her.

Amanda Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie was generally seen to represent Williams' mother, Edwina. Characters such as Tom Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie and Sebastian in Suddenly, Last Summer were understood to represent Williams himself. In addition, he used a lobotomy operation as a motif in Suddenly, Last Summer.

The Pulitzer Prize for Drama was awarded to A Streetcar Named Desire in 1948 and to Cat on a Hot Tin Roof in 1955. These two plays were later filmed, with great success, by noted directors Elia Kazan (Streetcar) with whom Williams developed a very close artistic relationship, and Richard Brooks (Cat). Both plays included references to elements of Williams' life such as homosexuality, mental instability, and alcoholism. Although The Flowering Peach by Clifford Odets was the preferred choice of the Pulitzer Prize jury in 1955 and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof was at first considered the weakest of the five shortlisted nominees, Joseph Pulitzer Jr., chairman of the Board, had seen Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and thought it worthy of the drama prize. The Board went along with him after considerable discussion.[6]

Williams wrote The Parade, or Approaching the End of a Summer when he was 29 and worked on it through his life. It seemed an autobiographical depiction of an early romance in Provincetown, Massachusetts. This play was produced for the first time on October 1, 2006 in Provincetown by the Shakespeare on the Cape Production Company, as part of the First Annual Provincetown Tennessee Williams Festival.

The Parade, or Approaching the End of a Summer was among several works published by New Directions in the spring of 2008, edited and introduced by Williams scholar Annette J. Saddik. This collection of experimental plays was titled The Traveling Companion and Other Plays.usc

Williams' last play A House Not Meant to Stand is a gothic comedy published in 2008 by New Directions with a foreword by Gregory Mosher and an introduction by Thomas Keith. Williams called his last play a "Southern gothic spook sonata."

Other works by Williams include Camino Real and Sweet Bird of Youth.

Tickets for the event are $25 for the public and $15 for museum members. Members of Sponsor level and above may attend the discussion for free. Tickets may be purchased online or through the museum at 718-784-4520.

The Museum of the Moving Image exists to expand public understanding and appreciation of the art, history, technique and technology of film, television, and digital media by collecting, preserving, and providing access to moving-image related artifacts via multimedia exhibitions and educational programming. The exhibits include significant audio/visual components designed to promote an understanding of the history of the industry and an understanding of how it has evolved. Panel discussions about current movies are frequently held at the museum. It is also home to one of the most significant collections of video games and gaming hardware. The museum's attendance has grown from 60,000 in 2000 to almost 100,000 in 2007, underscoring the need for expansion.

For more information, visit movingimage.us.