"Curtain" will fall next Sunday..three shows left!

What a weekend this was. 3 more large audiences...huge ovations for an incredibly hard working cast...people leaving the theatre telling me they now NEED to read more of TW's writing and see more of his plays now that they have insight into his motivation and characters. Watching people "connect the dots" in the play they just saw as this play is something to "chew on"..a play not simplistic in is subject or story. After years and years of readings and workshops and thousands of miles up and down the NJ turnpike...TW..and the play are alive...onstage...directly in front of you at Waterfront South Theatre. It is hard to pinpoint one subject to write about with all of this happening at once. It is a true joy for me and, as TW says in my play..."a true perk of the profession".

Thank you to the hundreds who have already seen the play and I personally invite you to please join us while Tennessee is still with us onstage in Waterfront South.

Three more performances of "Tennessee's Final Curtain" this Friday, Saturday and Sunday only. Tickets have been selling briskly but there are still seats available for each show. Gett hem at www.southcamdentheatre.org. En avant!

A love note from Tennessee Williams

Frank Merlo was the love of Tennessee Williams' life. Frank and Tenn spent many years together and Frank's death in 1957 shook Tenn until the day of his own death at the Hotel Elysee in 1983. During their time together, Frank took care of everything in their home life to allow Tennessee to write...to create...to become a legend. As we move into our second weekend of "Tennessee's Final Curtain" at SCTC think about love in all forms and...the ghosts of true love that may have left us..and how it affects all of us in all it's senses. After reading my play, the great actor Jeremey Lawrence, who has played Tennessee Williams all over the world, wrote this to me.."we all need a Frank in our lives". Please join us at Waterfront South Theatre and feel the ghosts and regrets of one of our greatest writers. And..to you all...I wish you the love of a "Frank" in all of your lives.

Opening a Curtain

After over 12 years of readings, workshops and thousands of miles back and forth to NY my play "Tennessee's Final Curtain" opens tonight. To fully describe the process of birthing a new play is to list the many people and places that have aided in its development. To discuss the writing of a play is to take you into a far lonelier place...a place filled with visions and voices and inspirations that allow a playwright to bring a new play to the page. My writer friends have all shared in the solemnity of that moment. The moment you finish. Writing the words "The End" mean two much different things...the end of the solitary process of writing and the beginning of the new life a play takes and...the ultimate joy of watching your play stand on its own feet as "Curtain" will do tonight. I hope to see you over the next three weeks as Tennessee Williams grapples with his own ghost and demons, brought to you to help us all understand the loneliness of this incredible writer. After all of these years its funny to see my own ghosts interact with the ghosts of others....all happening as one of the greatest writers in the past 100 years rises again to life. I hope you'll join me on this journey. It's been quite a ride up to now.

Thank you, Brian Dennehy

Thank you to acting legend Brian Dennehy for coming to SCTC yesterday to raise money for SCTC and discuss O'Neill, Miller, his films and Lee Marvin! Thank you also to the over capacity house who got to meet this iconic actor "up close and personal" the way we do things at SCTC. Brian is off to Chicago to begin rehearsals for "The Iceman Cometh" with Nathan Lane and we are in the final stages of bringing my new play "Tennessee's Final Curtain" to you starting this Friday. An exciting February at SCTC has begun......

2 weeks ahead to 29 years ago....

My play "Tennessee's Final Curtain" opens 2 weeks from tonight. The rehearsals I have attended, led by the incredibly talented director Allen Radway have been deeply intense, as Allen has found in my play moments that I, as the writer, had not seen in prior readings over the past twelve years. I can't wait to get back to the theatre for tonight's full rehearsal. The actors are working so hard as they bring this, the last night of Tennessee's Williams life, back to life in front of you..allowing you into his guarded world of ghosts, secrets and inspirations. Tennessee died on a cold February night in 1983.. 29 years ago but his plays and poetry will live forever. Come into his world.... and memories...and emotions. We run three weeks. Please join us.

Future in the Past

Thanks to the 200 people who came out for this weekends 3 day Festival. We saw young actors make their professional debuts, an African American cast bring a "Menagerie" to stunning life, and were part of 3 lively and thought provoking discussions after led by Jack Shaw. A young student from Seton Hall Prep HS, in attendance Saturday night said it best. "I'm going back home and reading Tennessee Williams". Success. In less than 3 weeks "Tennessee's Final Curtain" takes the stage in it's world premiere. The set is already under construction and the actors have been working for weeks. After almost 14 years of readings and workshops you will have the opportunity to be in Tennessee's room the night he died and enter his world of ghost and visions. Only at SCTC. Only in Waterfront South. Tickets at www.southcamdentheatre.org. A new "Future" emerges.

3 Levels of Light in Camden

I wish you could have seen Waterfront South Theatre last night. From the street you could look up and see my play "Tennessee's Final Curtain" which opens February 10th rehearsing on the third floor, actors passing the brightly lit windows as they worked. More light from the second floor where the cast of "The Glass Menagerie" was preparing to go down to the stage to tech their show on the stage now being vacated by the actors in "The Case of the Crushed Petunias" who's rehearsal had just ended...the actors laughing as they left for the evening to prepare for tonight's dress rehearsal. Outside, they ran past SCTC's staff...the technicians and stage managers who help bring everything to life as they were sneaking a last smoke break on the steps...smoke rising in the cold, January air.. I took a step back as I left...watching all of this activity... all....under the 'little silver slipper of a moon" that Tennessee Williams obviously had a hand in hanging over our theatre as he watched his theatre festival emerge. Words can only paint so much of this picture. You need to come out this weekend and see for yourself. Please join us as we escort "Tennessee Williams Into the Future" opening tomorrow night for one weekend.