Inukshuk Production Company and Portland Q Center to Present TENNESSEE IN KEY WEST at Fertile Ground 2014, 1/23-2/2

Inukshuk Production Company and the Portland Q Center have announced their joint entry for the 2014 Fertile Ground Festival: Tennessee in Key West, an original play by Robert Lee Gaynor; directed by Marybeth Bielawski-DeLeo. In this fictional piece inspired by the life of Tennessee Williams, a young reporter travels to Key West to interview the illustrious playwright, and soon realizes he is in over his head when the playwright imposes unusual requirements in exchange for answers to questions.

The play will run for eight performances during the festival, beginning Thursday January 23 and ending Sunday February 2. Performances begin at 7:30 pm Thursday through Saturday and 2:00 pm on Sunday. Advance tickets are available online through boxofficetickets.com (https://www.boxofficetickets.com/bot/wa/event?id=257685) or the Fertile Ground website (http://www.fertilegroundpdx.org/calendar.html).

As a special treat, performances will feature live pre-show music with Tina Sandoval, a Portland native who is currently the artistic director and conductor of the Taos Community Chorus.

There will be a Command Performance of the play for Empress Darcelle XV, who will be in attendance, on Sunday January 26 at 2:00 pm.

Thirty years after his death, the relevance of Tennessee Williams' work has not diminished. This is evidenced by the number of Williams' plays still produced around the world, including a current Broadway revival of The Glass Menagerie, a piece which will see two separate productions mounted by Portland area theater groups in early 2014. Tennessee in Key West grew out of the author's love for the playwright's work and a desire to look beyond his plays, to know not only Williams the artist, but Williams the man. The play captures Tennessee in his declining years, long after he was the critics' darling for notable pieces such as A Streetcar Named Desire and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Robert Lee Gaynor will perform as Tennessee Williams. The young reporter will be played by Ryan C. Miller.

Originally from Anchorage, Alaska, director Marybeth Bielawski-DeLeo relocated to Portland in 2012 from San Diego, where she founded Inukshuk Production Company. Her production of Ted Tally's Terra Nova was named the top production of 2008 by Jean Lowenstein of the San Diego Critics Circle, and Marybeth was named one of the city's top five directors. Other San Diego directing credits include: Random Access Productions: Lord Derby's Giant Eland by Patricia Loughrey, 2005 Kennedy Center Mark Twain Award, The Laramie Project, Patte Award Outstanding Ensemble, Angels in America: Millennium Approaches, Perestroika, The Old Globe: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolfe, San Diego Critic's Circle Award, North Coast Rep: Moonglow, Cygnet Theatre: It's a Wonderful Life, San Diego Critic's Circle Award, and Diversionary Theatre: Facing East.

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