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".