Provincetown Tennessee Williams Festival to Host Live And Silent Art Auction, Today

The Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theater Festival will host an auction of locally donated artworks and other items as part of its Annual Dinner celebration on Saturday, June 2, 2018.

Held at Town Hall (260 Commercial Street) in Provincetown, the gala supports the 13th-annual Festival, to be presented in venues throughout Provincetown September 27-30, 2018.

The silent auction will run from 6:30 - 8:30pm and is open only to ticketed guests at the Annual Dinner. It will feature items such as tickets to the Summer Salon series. Attendees at Summer Salon events will have the opportunity to meet and converse with notable figures, including Tony Kushner and Michael Cunningham, in an informal setting during July and August.

The live auction begins at 8:00pm, and is open to the public.

Absentee bids are accepted until noon on June 1, 2018. Email info@twptown.org for information on how to place an absentee bid.

Acclaimed stage and screen actor Amanda Plummer is the guest of honor at this year's Dinner, and will also receive the Festival's second annual TENN Award. General admission tickets to the Annual Dinner, as well as premium seats and table sponsorships, are now on sale online at twptown.org and by phone at 866-789-TENN.

The Festival is pleased to present the following items for auction at the Annual Dinner:

Silent Auction

6:30 - 8:30pm

Ø A Summer Salon with Tony Kushner
Date to be determined, summer 2018 / Truro, MA

Provincetown boasts some of the world's most politically relevant literary figures. Come spend an intimate evening over cocktails and hors d'oeuvres in a lovely Truro home with award-winning playwright, essayist, screenwriter, and activist Tony Kushner.

Ø A Summer Salon with Michael Cunningham
Late August, 2018 / Provincetown, MA

Meet the Pulitzer prize-winning novelist Michael Cunningham in a friendly conversation over dinner and drinks in Provincetown's East End, where you can relax and do a deep dive into The Hours or A Home at the End of the World with the author himself.

Ø Hand-Made African Instruments
Date to be determined, summer 2018 / Truro, MA

Own a piece of history! These two hand-carved djembe drums and African balaphone from Accra, Ghana were played by Godwin Awador in last year's Ten Blocks on the Camino Real on a five-city U.S. tour, including Provincetown. Proceeds from the auction of these items will go to the artists from the National Theatre of Ghana and the Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theater Festival.

Live Auction

8:00pm
Open to the public

Ø Jo Hay, "Whiskey," 2017
Oil on canvas, 24x30
Gallery Price: $3500 / Reserve: $2000

Jo Hay is a contemporary British American portrait painter whose work focuses on acknowledging human courage characterized by those who dare to stand up and express who they are or what they believe. "The rabbit paintings, which I also consider portraits, are a place for me to find new ways of constructing a living figure without being concerned with facial likeness or gender." Inspired by the current political climate Hay is also developing a series of large-scale portraits of women who are making outstanding efforts with regard to human rights. Donated by Jo Hay Gallery.

Ø Marian Roth, "At the Wharf: Blue"
Archival Deluxe Cibachrome Direct Positive Print, 21x12 Framed
(Image created in a multiple aperture pinhole tube camera, signature in verso)
Gallery Price: $1000

Marian Roth moved to Provincetown in 1982 to fulfill a dream of living and making art in a community of creative people. She has never thought of leaving. Well-known in the world of photography for her innovative camera obscura work, Marian has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Pollock Krasner Fellowship, a fellowship from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, and was honored with a lifetime award for artistic excellence by PAAM. She currently exhibits in Provincetown with AMP Gallery.

Ø KJ Shows, "Blue Jacks"
Oil on Canvas, 30x40
Gallery Price: $4000 / Reserve: $2500

KJ Shows, a Texas-born Maine resident is a full-time artist that uses highly-skilled observation and meticulous attention to detail in her work. Because shoes are an extension of the human foot on its journey through life, KJ Shows believes that shoes have an ability to record and recall life's memorable moments and sentiments. Donated by Jo Hay Gallery.

Ø John Dowd, "Across Pilgrim Lake"
Oil on Linen, 30x40
Gallery Price: $8500

This large-scale landscape is a bit of a departure for John Dowd, whose iconic images of Cape houses and streetscapes have become synonymous with Provincetown realism. The Festival is pleased to offer this stunning rendering of the view from Pilgrim Lake in bright, expressionistic hues, where the low purple horizon line gives way to a brilliant orange sky. John Dowd has been called the "poet painter of Provincetown." His nostalgic images are rigorously composed to capture the subtleties of light, creating a delicate and emotional experience for the viewer. Unsurpassed in popularity, his work is available at the Williams Scott Gallery.

Ø Private Chef's Dinner for Six
Strangers & Saints, Provincetown
Value: $2300

Embark on a journey of Italian food and wine with Executive Chef and Sommelier Fred Latasa-Nicks from Strangers & Saints Restaurant in Provincetown. You and 5 of your guests will enjoy an intimate evening at Strangers & Saints to be scheduled in the Fall of 2018. Mr. Latasa will introduce and explain each course and wine pairing as you taste the delights of Italy. This will be an unforgettable evening for the lucky group who wins this item.

Ø Adopt-A-Show!

In our ever-popular Adopt-a-Show auction, you can make a bid to help underwrite a production! As an "Adopt-a-Show" supporter, you will have a chance to meet the cast of the show you're backing during the Festival in September, as well having your name listed on the website as a contributor.

About the 2018 Annual Dinner

The 2018 Festival is entitled Tennessee Williams: Wishful Thinking. The line-up of shows will feature Williams plays alongside works by Lorca, Chekhov, and Beckett, produced and performed by Festival artists and collaborators from New York City, Philadelphia, Michigan, Texas, and beyond. Details of the Festival's full program will be announced on the evening of the Dinner.

The evening will begin with a cocktail hour at 6:30 p.m. with beer, wine, and champagne, followed by dinner at 7:15 p.m. Over dinner, Festival Curator David Kaplan will announce this year's artistic programming with a sneak peek performance of The Rose Tattoo by Festival star Irene Glezos (Orpheus Descending, In the Summer House), with Vance Quincy Barton. Glezos will go on to perform the lead role of Serafina in September. It is, Hall-Flavin says, "a role that Irene was born to play."

After the meal, guest of honor and TENN Award recipient Amanda Plummer will discuss her life and career in an on-stage interview.

The evening of June 2 also marks the release of single tickets for Festival shows and events, which will become available online and by phone after the season announcement at the Annual Dinner. Carte Blanche and Flex passes, which allow for patrons to attend multiple shows at a discount, are currently available for purchase, and can be redeemed for specific shows and events beginning on June 2.

The Festival's Gala Committee is chaired by Jim Mauro, with board members Deborah Bowles and Albert Carey, Jr. The Festival thanks sponsors Cosmos Catering, Devil's Purse Brewing Company, and Fleur du Cap Wines.

About the 2018 Festival Theme

The drama of anticipation inspires this year's programming, says Kaplan. "We are all, in America and around the world, waiting for something to happen," he says. "We don't know what it is, but we can feel something is coming. Does waiting unsettle us? Does it paralyze our will to act? Does it give us hope, or cause for despair?"

Waiting and anticipation are primary forces in the works of Samuel Beckett, Federico García Lorca, and Anton Chekhov (whose writing influenced Tennessee Williams). Productions from these three world-renowned playwrights will also be presented this year, along with the work of Williams.

Tennessee Williams famously said that he began to write A Streetcar Named Desire with a vision he had of a woman sitting in the moonlight, waiting for someone who never arrived. That vision, says Kaplan, also haunts Williams' The Rose Tattoo, whose central role, Serafina, waits for her husband to return from work. Within the first lines of that play, the theme for this year's Festival becomes clear:

Assunta: Vengo, vengo. Buona sera. Buona sera. There is something wild in the air, no wind but everything's moving.

Serafina: I don't see nothing moving and neither do you.

Assunta: Nothing is moving so you can see it moving, but everything is moving, and I can hear the star-noises. Hear them? Hear the star-noises?

Here is a sense "nothing is moving so you can see it moving," says Kaplan, but that it moves nonetheless, and that "the unseen turbulence of a person's feelings and thoughts is somehow aligned or in sync with the stars - a fate unknown but inevitable."

About the Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theater Festival

The Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theater Festival was founded in 2006 in Provincetown - the birthplace of modern American theater - where Williams worked on many of his major plays during the 1940s. The TW Festival is the nation's largest performing arts festival dedicated to celebrating and expanding an understanding of the full breadth of the work of America's great playwright. Each year, theater artists from around the globe perform classic and innovative productions to celebrate Williams' enduring influence in the 21st century, hosted by venues throughout the seaside village. For more details, visit twptown.org and follow the Festival on Facebook.

This Festival is funded in part by the Provincetown Tourism Fund, and is presented by the Pilgrim House.