FIVE BY TENN Begins Performances Tonight
By: BWW News Desk Oct. 19, 2004
The Manhattan Theatre Club production of FIVE BY TENN, an evening of newly discovered one-act plays by Tennessee Williams, will begin previews tonight at NY City Center – Stage II (131 West 55th Street). The production will open on Thursday, November 11.
FIVE BY TENN will feature the world premieres of The Fat Man's Wife and Adam and Eve on a Ferry, the New York premieres of And Tell Sad Stories of the Deaths of Queens and Summer at the Lake, as well as I Can't Imagine Tomorrow, which has been previously produced in New York.
FIVE BY TENN is directed by Michael Kahn. The ensemble cast will feature Kathleen Chalfant, Cameron Folmar, Penny Fuller, Hunter Gilmore, Jeremy Lawrence, David Rasche, Robert Sella and Myk Watford.
Four of the five one acts in FIVE BY TENN were found several years ago by scholars Nick Moschovakis and David Roessel in Austin while doing research for an edition of Williams' collected poems. Moschovakis and Roessel brought the plays, along with a dozen others, to director Michael Kahn's attention, and Kahn found Summer at the Lake, And Tell Sad Stories of the Deaths of Queens, The Fat Man's Wife, and Adam and Eve on a Ferry especially stageworthy. Presented with the Williams gem, I Can't Imagine Tomorrow, they comprise FIVE BY TENN.
Summer at the Lake, a precursor to the mother/son relationship depicted in Williams' breakthrough play, The Glass Menagerie, will feature Kathleen Chalfant (Anna), Cameron Folmar (Donald Fenway) and Penny Fuller (Mrs. Fenway) .
In The Fat Man's Wife, a woman is forced to choose between her philandering husband and the promise of love from an idealistic younger man. The play features Kathleen Chalfant (Vera Cartwright), David Rache (Josie Cartwright) and Robert Sella (Dennis Merriweather).
And Tell Sad Stories of the Deaths of Queens, Williams' only openly gay-themed play, is about an aging drag queen confronting her loneliness, and will feature Myk Watford (Karl), Cameron Folmar (Candy Delaney), Hunter Gilmore (Alvin Krenning) and Robert Sella (Jerry Johnson).
Adam and Eve on a Ferry, in which an anxious American woman's obsession with a near-sexual encounter brings her to D.H. Lawrence's door, features Kathleen Chalfant (Frieda), Penny Fuller (Visitor) and David Rasche (Lawrence).
I Can't Imagine Tomorrow, a stark, spare piece featuring Kathleen Chalfant (One) and David Rasche (Two), depicts a middle-aged man and woman trying to bridge the gap of isolation and pain.
Jeremy Lawrence appears between plays as The Writer, a figure based on Williams' writings.
The performance schedule for FIVE BY TENN is: Tuesday through Sunday at 7:30 PM, with matinees on Saturday and Sunday at 2:30 PM. Tickets are $48 and can be reserved by calling CityTix at (212) 581-1212. Student tickets are $25, and are on sale for all performances based on availability, on the day of the performance, up to one hour before show time. Call (212) 581-1212 for further information. MTC at NY City Center is equipped with a hearing augmentation system.
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