TENNESSEE WILLIAMS ABRIDGED to Premiere at Two New Orleans Venues

The Tennessee Williams Theatre Company of New Orleans (TWTC) will close its 11th season with its Lagniappe program Tennessee Williams Abridged with two new partnerships: The André Cailloux Center for Performing Arts and Cultural Justice and Jefferson Performing Arts Westwego. TWTC's Lagniappe series has developed new partnerships with cultural organizations and performed in new areas of the Greater New Orleans are since 2023. The comedic spin on Williams classics will run from November 11-15 with two evenings at the Cailloux Center on Bayou Road and three performances including a Sunday matinee at the Lagniappe stage in Westwego.

The ninety-minute slapstick retelling of seventeen Williams plays is set in the asylum to which Blanche DuBois was committed following the events of A Streetcar Named Desire. As Blanche, Lauren Wells stage manages and directs a mad tea party of her stuffed animals and mental hospital staff, drawing connections between dozens of memorable Tennessee Williams characters and scenarios ranging from Night of the Iguana, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Glass Menagerie, and others. Other cast members include Drew Stroud and Dontez Banks as Blanche's stuffed animals and Delphine Joseph and Charlie Antis as a nurse and candy striper, respectively. The production is stage managed by Puck.

Inspired by The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Abridged, this send-up of Williams is adapted by TWTC Founding Co-Artistic Director Augustin J Correro. Correro is also the author of Tennessee Williams 101, so he is no stranger to condensing the breadth of the playwright's work into shorter, accessible formats. Correro describes the experience from the rehearsal room: “Blanche whips quickly from scene to scene, eager to hurriedly get through all the stories before they're lost to memory. It's like a high-speed streetcar ride on the Night of the Cat on a Hot Tin Roof covered in glass animals, including Iguanas. The cast is filled with comedic pros, who jump from role to role, giving each one life and specificity, and guide the audience through the loony musings of Blanche…and the unique, poetic catalog of Tennessee Williams.

TWTC Founding Co-Artistic Director Nick Shackleford states, “The choice to make 'TWA' tour to Bayou Road and Westwego was simple: share what we're doing with audiences in new neighborhoods, and invite our audiences to spaces they maybe haven't visited, in hopes to foster an overall climate of audienceship that's more deeply integrated in the community. We don't want there to be 'our audience' and 'your audience'—we hope everyone will support theatre and the arts across companies and groups.

TWA ticket holders to the Cailloux Center performances will also be eligible for discount tickets to the ACC's immersive Augmented Reality (AR) tour of the historic venue, which provides fascinating context around the venue's namesake and city history.