A set goes up...three weeks and counting...

SCTC's set for "Suddenly Last Summer" begins to take shape tomorrow. as "Tenn X Ten" moves even closer. As Mrs. Venable says "Oh, Sebastian...what a lovely summer it's been".

Fall is here and summer has now passed us. See you in three weeks as a summer full of secrets erupts on stage at SCTC.

Williams in P'Town to Joyce in Camden in 6 hours

Aboard a ferry on smooth waters yesterday I received an email inviting me to meet in Camden last nigth at 6PM at the poets walk , 4 doors from the theatre as Brendan Kilty had returned. 3 years ago, Brendan had given Michael Doyle a brick from the house where James Joyce wrote his famous "The Dead" and had returned to see the brick, now enshrined in a wheel of stone rescued from an old mill where it crushed oats for generations. On the bricks surrounding it are the names of poets and playwrights, living and dead, who now guard Joyce's brick with words of their own. In one day I went from Tennessee Williams on the cape to the words of James Joyce in Camden. P'Town had released me just in time for this moment and the clear blue skies, calm seas and a quick plane ride landed me safely on Jasper Street. Brendan is a blessing to us all. Thanks, Helene for the invitation and thank you Brendan for your constant inspiration.

Temporary last sunrise....

The most beautiful sunrise woke me at 6AM here on the cape. It is a brilliant combination of pink clouds, dark blue of early morning night receding into the light and beautiful gold ripples where the sun is sneaking its way into this morning of partial clouds. It is a sunrise that will stay with me for this year, through mornings of sleet and ice and rain...of early meetings on days that the cold tries to keep the light away from..on mornings that I reach into the back of my memory for this one...this particular late September day where the slight chill in the air reveals a tug of war of seasons. That tug of war is deep within me as I head home to SCTC. The tug to stay here...to be witness to many more September 26th dawns. It is mornings like this that make me believe even more in living each day as it comes,...or as Tennessee Williams' said in "Something Cloudy"..."life happens all at the same time". Ferry in a couple of hours and then an afternoon flight to Philly. Home to different sunrises ..each with their own new beginnings..Thanks, Tenn for bringing me here. Now off to your birthday party in Camden.

A festival closes...a season begins

It's always sad on the day the TW festival closes. Great theatre in a unique destination is always hard to walk away from. This year, though, we return and enter into SCTC's Tenn X Ten season so..like books bought and loaded into my suitcase..this year bring Tennessee Williams home with me....to share with you. It is amazing how the drama and poetry of this man can connect two diverse places. Provincetown...a well off place of natural beauty and art...and Camden, not as wealthy by a long shot...but also full of beauty and art of its own. The beauty of poets in the streets of a city that is so trying to remedy itself....and once again stand. Every year I bring some of Camden to P'Town and now return bringing P'Town home to Waterfront South. Let these two places always be connected by light and art. www.southcamdentheatre.org for tickets to this magical season of Tennesee. En avant!

Morning cloudy...morning clear....

This AM's weather is so like the plays of Tennessee Williams. We got to see both sides of P'Town today already...am chill with some light mist then be pushed away by sun and the dispersion of the clouds revealing the lighthouses of the cape in the distance. It's what brings writers here. The chance to feel the chill and warmth of light within a few minutes of each other. Just like his plays. Laughing one minute pulled into a world of shadows and secrets the next. Just like the fog...just like the light. Memories...everywhere to be relived......P'Town is a place of incredible beauty and unearthed secrets. I would never leave if ...........

Something Cloudy...Something Clear

Another gut wrenching play written by Tennessee near the end of his life that carried remorse and memories from the past. You leave feeling the love and regret he had at losing his first real love and his brilliance of giving them to us. Incredible production by Interart Group from NY under a tent on the beach with the lapping waves behind us. To paraphrase..."There is nothing more real than dreams"...this is magic.

The Loneliness of Tennessee's "Traveling Companion"

In 5 yrs of coming to this festival I never cried. Until yesterday. Tennessee's "The Traveling Companion" shows his incredible loneliness in an encounter with his much younger "companion" in a hotel room in NY. The much smarter, older writer tries all of his tricks to get the younger man into his SINGLE bed in the room when a power of wills break out with the bed being used as the battlefield. At one point the incredible Jeremy Lawrence as Tennessee answers a pointed question about living somewhere permanently with "where would I go?" His searing look into your eyes brings the loneliness of one of our greatest writers front, center and in your face. This man of many men and parties was now a lonely, older man with no one to share a bed, home or life with. I welled up with tears during that monologue and then again after discussing the play. I feel so close to this man that his self descriptive words went straight through my heart into my soul. It's what great playwrights do. 2 more shows today...so..off into the misty morning on the cape to discover his next work, aptly titled "Something Cloudy..Something Clear".

Visiting with Mr. O'Neill

I paid my yearly visit to Eugene O'Neill at the spot of his former theatre on the other side of P'Town. Every year I take my yellow eared copy of "Long Days Journey Into Night" and read my favorite passage which ends with "seeing the secret...are the secret". For a second there is meaning". [I am pictured reading on the rock at the site] You can feel his presence as you walk and read his words. The pain of the play is still there today..so long after it was written. P'Town is truly a pilgrimage for me. A visit to the writers of the past who so changed our world. I get to spend time with both Tennessee Williams and O'Neill at either end of Commercial Street where they wrote. It is a gift to be here...a gift to write...and a gift to feel their inspiration....a gift to share with you. Thank you, "Edmund Tyrone" for sharing your passion. The water laps below as I write this....... and soon........ a weekend of Tennessee....

Boats tied down in the harbor

Looking out onto the harbor in Provincetown one can see 50-60 small sailboats tied to their moorings. These boats, unmoored were taken by the winds of summer but are now tied down, empty... appearing frustrated against the sea whipped waves of the oncoming fall. And somehow this brings me to Tennessee Williams. His having to work International Shoe Company in St Louis frustrated and upset him to no end. It is everywhere in his work and led to some of his greatest creations. He was a vessel that needed to be free to create and sail his own ocean. And...thanks to "Glass Menagerie"..written here in Provincetown...it happened. My wish today is for all of us who are frustrated by our day job moorings find the freedom that Tennessee found in the winds of success and that we find our ocean breezes that pushes us to our potential as writers and artists. Tenn X Ten is coming.....

Crashing Waves-Life in the Wind-Entering Provincetown Harbor

So it is here smelling the same air and watching the same sea as they did so long ago....rocking so badly that paper and pen seperate like lovers during a drunken arguement..It is here one can share O'Neill's "saint's vision"seen so rarely any of us. It is here the words of Amanda Wingfield blend as one with that of Mary Tyrone...it is here that writers write, painters paint and true vision is found..God's vision...God's plan..it is why one must crash through the yearly waves aboard a rocking ferry to follow the sirens to the shore...navigating through the churning water of one's life. It is why no matter how old or sick or well you happen to be....one has to return over and over to be part of that truth..the truth inside us all...the truth that is life. This place of light and inspiration allows you to delve into your own darkness and light....and through that...create. Sunrise over the harbor now....the new day begins.

SCTC's "Suddenly Last Summer" poster designed and painted by world renouned artist Bro. Mickey McGrath

It is with great pride SCTC unveils the first poster for our "Tenn X Ten" season by Bro. Mickey McGrath. This season, Mickey has designed the posters for each of our shows. We are so lucky as a company to be able to present his talent to you and his work on this poster is nothing short of remarkable. After you see the play you will understand more of his concept that I find so startling and beautiful. Mickey's work is seen worldwide with one of his pieces hanging in the Vatican Gallery in Rome. We are deeply honored to have Mickey and his work enhance the work of SCTC in this special season honoring Tennessee Williams's 100th birthday. We will unveil more paintings as the season progresses. This is not the season to say you missed. See what makes SCTC and Waterfront South so special. "Summer" arrives on October 21st for three weeks. Go to www.southcamdentheatre.org for tickets.

Of Changing Seasons.....

Next weekend's "Provincetown Tennessee Williams Festival" will again bring the words and plays of Tennessee Williams alive for those lucky enough to attend. If you can't, our SCTC "Tenn X Ten" season is my attempt to bring P'Town to you. As fall arrives so does our new season..and..the incredible world of Tennessee. So, summer's departing rays of light reminded me of my all time favorite TW quote..one from his short play "The Last of my Solid Gold Watches" which an older traveling salesman [not unlike TW's father] describes a man, a generation or a fleeting season.... "My pockets are full of watches which tell me that my time is just about over". Summer ends and fall begins.... and Tennessee Williams is alive in Waterfront South.

"A bottle of wine as an hourglass....."

At the staged reading of my play "Tennessee's Final Curtain" on the 20th anniversary of Tennessee's death at the Hotel Elysee in NY, a man who id'd himself to me as one of Tennessee's last lovers, asked me if I knew how he wrote. When I said I did not he told me that Tennessee would wake up, have a bottle of red wine opened for him [his arthritis was bad in his later years] and he would sit at a typewriter and write. Every day. When he had emptied the bottle, his day of writing was over and it was time for gathering with some of his many "companions" for the remainder. I truly love Tennessee Williams and have spent years speaking to his friends, reading everything I could find, and learning as much as I can of his work. Throughout this season I will share these gems of information that have been shared with me...with you. Do not miss this season. Waterfront South is a special place to be. En avant!

1 year back....a neighborhood moves ahead.....

Last year on this date, the cast of my play "Last Rites" was preparing for a sold out, preview performance for our seatholders, funders and the people who made Waterfront South Theatre a reality. I remember waking up and being kind of numb. A theatre in a neighborhood in Camden, NJ was now a reality and now we, SCTC, had the responsibility of bringing the most moving, professional theatre to you in this beautiful new home. The architects and funders of the brick and mortar were present and it was time to the architects and dreamers of the dream to take over. It was an incredilbe night. I an evening of emotion and memories and...above all...gratitude. A year later I wanted to again thank Helene Pierson and Heart of Camden, Pepe Piperno and his Dominica Foundation and Fr. Michael Doyle for making dreams come true. Buy a seat...see a play...share in the new reality. Heal Camden!

Waterfront South Theatre one year annivesary this Saturday

This Sat, 9-10-11 will celebrate Waterfront South Theatre's 1 year anniversary. To all of you who have visited SCTC this year by seeing a play, thank you. You are a part of the rebirth of Camden. A year has now passed since a ribbon cutting that few believed would ever happen. But..thanks to so many...it did..and now...we continue the success that a professional theatre in Camden has brought to a rebuilding neighborhood. "Suddenly Last Summer" opens on 10-21 and our season honoring Tennessee Williams begins. So..as this week passes...remember last year at this time...when a new theatre was opening at a fever pitch. You can help keep the momentum going! See you in Waterfront South!

SCTC in American Theatre magazine!!

SCTC was listed Jim O'Quinn's column "Williams Then and Now" in the new September issue of American Theatre magazine discussing productions of Tennessee's plays across the US this year in honor of his 100th birthday. As O'Quinn wrote SCTC is "all Williams, all year". This is a national publication that carries our message not only across the country but internationally as well. See for yourself what all of the excitement is about. Go to www.southcamdentheatre.org for tickets.

Looking back...and forward..

On Labor Day take a second to remember the lesson of Clifford Odet's "Waiting For Lefty" that SCTC brought to you this past February. Without our grandparents fighting and striking for better wages and conditions none of us would have the worker's rights we have today. As we see strikes across the country by governement workers whose rights have been shattered remember his lesson. Sometime you just have to say "enough" and strike for what you believe. SCTC will continue to bring plays like "Lefty" to you in the future. We are committed to theatre that will move you and start a discussion. So...on to Tennessee Williams and the new season but never take your eye off of the past and those who got us here.

"Suddenly Last Summer" poster coming....

In the next few days we will be unveiling the poster for "Summer" designed by a world renowned artist exclusively for SCTC. More exciting news later about the rest of the season as well. Don't miss this special year at SCTC... Keep an eye out for the art..... www.southcamdentheatre.org for tix!