Brian Dennehy Conducts Master Class For Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theater Fest

Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theater Festival is excited to announce that Brian Dennehy, one of America's foremost actors, acclaimed for interpreting complex characters on stage and screen, will be sharing his expertise in a Master Acting Class during this year's festival: Beyond Success: Tennessee Williams and Eugene O'Neill.

TW Festival curator David Kaplan said: "In June, Brian Dennehy was our guest of honor at our annual dinner and he surprised us all when he decided to read a passage written by Eugene O'Neill. He had us near tears within seconds. Then Dennehy had us open-mouthed in wonder as he explained the craft behind his power. We asked Brian to share this gift with our audiences and students who come to our Tennessee Williams Institute, and we are very glad he agreed."

Dennehy's Master Class is a rare opportunity for students and the general public to learn from one of America's great performers. In this fun, improvisatory session, he will work with actors on monologues and scenes from Eugene O'Neill's plays.

Brian Dennehy has honed his craft over a lifetime of work as a film, TV and stage actor. He has won two Tony Awards, a Golden Globe, and has been nominated for six Emmys. His Tony's for Best Actor were for his performances as James Tyrone in Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night in 2003 and for Willy Loman in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman in 1999.

Recognized as one of the preeminent interpreters of Eugene O'Neill's major characters, Dennehy appeared as Larry in O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh at BAM in 2015, and has also playEd Hickey in the same play in several productions, notably the acclaimed 1992 production at Dublin's historic Abbey Theatre. He also starred in O'Neill's A Touch of the Poet, Hughie, and Desire Under the Elms. In 2010 he won the Eugene O'Neill Lifetime Achievement Award from the Irish American Writers and Artists.

Brian Dennehy's Master Class is part of this year's Tennessee Williams Institute (TWI), the educational arm of the Festival. This year, the Provincetown Tennessee Williams Festival and Institute focus on the spirit of daring shared by Tennessee Williams and Eugene O'Neill as they created new forms for theater beyond the formulas with which they achieved their success.

Tickets are $15 students, $25 general public, available at www.twptown.org or 866/799 - 8366.

Also participating in TWI will be Robert M. Dowling, the author of last year's critically acclaimed biography: "Eugene O'Neill: A Life in Four Acts." The Washington Post commends the author for restoring emphasis on the many groundbreaking works O'Neill wrote during the 1920s. Several of these groundbreaking plays are presented in this Festival.

The Institute will also include a lecture/demo by Lee Breuer and Maude Mitchell of the world renowned experimental theater company Mabou Mines, offering a view of the process creating their next project, Glass Guignol: The Brother & Sister Play, adapted from the writings of Tennessee Williams and Mary Shelley, which will premiere in New York in May 2017.

The Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theater Festival was founded in 2006 in the birthplace of modern American Theater where Williams worked on many of his major plays during the 1940s. The four day TW Fest is the nation's largest performing arts festival dedicated to celebrating and expanding the understanding of the full breadth of the work of America's great playwright. Theater artists from around the globe perform classic and innovative productions to celebrate Williams' enduring influence today. The Fest has offered 11 premieres of Williams' plays, many of which have traveled to other cities. It will take place in various venues in the seaside village of Provincetown from Thursday, September 22 through Sunday, September 25, 2016. For more details visit www.twptown.org. See us on Facebook.