TW Theatre NOLA to Present PENNY DREADFULS Series

Tennessee Williams got his start as a published writer crafting a horrific retelling of an Egyptian legend that was published in Weird Tales, a magazine committed to science fiction, fantasy, and horror. This fall, The Tennessee Williams Theatre Company of New Orleans will celebrate its namesake playwright's most shocking and fantastical experiments with a collection of macabre comedies collectively titled “Penny Dreadfuls”, with the centerpiece being “The Remarkable Rooming-House of Madame Le Monde”.

“The Remarkable Rooming-House of Madame Le Monde” has earned a reputation of being one of Williams' darkest, most shocking, and exceedingly challenging to produce plays, in spite of having received successful stagings in Provincetown and New York. TWTC is setting out to showcase this rarely produced Williams play and set the record straight, which has been part of their mission since the start in 2015. Le Monde will be grouped with two other unusual and rarely produced works, “The Case of the Crushed Petunias” and “Why Do You Smoke So Much, Lily?”

“Each piece delves into the dark aspects of the human experience and casts a Grand Guignol spotlight on the shadowy corners we dare not speak of. On the page, these plays seem impossible to stage, but in the room they're surprisingly funny and engaging,” says director Augustin J Correro, who is also a Founding Co-Artistic Director of TWTC, “They do, however, feel more like a roller coaster ride because they're much shorter than several of Williams' more well-established works. Don't expect a slow burn with these. They're in your face.”

The cast of the plays does double duty, performing in several of the chilling and bizarre vignettes, and is composed of local performers Monica R. Harris, Joe Signorelli, Ryan Darby, Rachel Shannon, Cody Keech, Miles Hamauei, and Adrienne Simmons. Spooky sound design is provided by Nick Shackleford(TWTC Founding Co-Artistic Director), lights are by Diane K. Baas, costumes by Baylee Robertson, and set by Kaeanne Louks. All the action takes place in the ever-flexible immersive Lower Depths Theatre at Loyola University New Orleans, where TWTC is in professional residency.

“To make it more exciting, this night of plays is a choose-your own adventure of sorts, and we can't wait to show audiences what that means for them,” says Shackleford, “We can promise this is Tennessee Williams like you've never seen him before. Just don't bring small children.”

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