CLARKSDALE – Coahoma Community College has released the schedule for the 30th Annual MS Delta Tennessee Williams Festival (MDTWF), which will be held in Clarksdale on Oct. 13, 14 and 15.
“We are also thrilled to announce that Academy and Emmy Award-winning producer and former professor at the Stella Adler Academy will be here,” said Jen Waller, event spokesman. “Stella Adler Conservatory’s Milton Justice will also direct an abridged production of A Glass Menagerie on Saturday afternoon in Clarksdale on the porch of the historic Governor's Mansion located at 41 John Street.”
A Glass Menagerie is probably Williams’ best known play and the name was allegedly inspired by a piece of Clarksdale furniture holding treasures that Williams remembered from this Summers spent in Clarksdale.
This year's festival will include:
• Tours through Clarksdale's historic district and other downtown areas.
• MDTW festival reunion and a look at festivals past.
• A movie screening of the acclaimed 1958 film Cat on a Hot Tin Roof on the lawn of the Cutrer Mansion.
• Academic presentations from scholars from around the country including Williams Scholar, Dr. Kenneth Holditch; Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, Richard Ford; Award-winning author, W. Ralph Eubanks; Moorman Distinguished Professor in the Humanities, Dr. Andrew Haley.
• A presentation by Award-winning Highway 61 Radio Host, Writer and Researcher, Scott Barretta.
• A presentation by Williams Historian and Director of the Tennessee Williams Rectory Museum, Karen Kohlhaas.
• A review by Academy-award winning producer, Milton Justice.
• There will also be performances by both professional and community actors and the High School Student Drama Competition.
• Locals will host cultural workshops with talks by Delta Ambassadors.
• The signature Porch Plays will be held in the historic district.
• And there will be several social gatherings with food and music as well.
Organizers are also working on a fun, family-friendly Community Fair to be held at the Cutrer Mansion on Thursday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m..
“We are asking people to mark your calendar now and bring the family too,” said Waller. “It's going to be a great cultural event for the whole family.”
The MS Delta Tennessee Williams Festival is free and open to the public, but its continued success depends on sponsors, grants and donations.
Signature sponsors for this year event are Coahoma Community College, the MS Humanities Council, the MS Arts Commission, the Coahoma County Tourism Commission/Visit Clarksdale, and Visit Mississippi.
For more information or to make a donation, contact Waller at jwaller@coahomacc.edu or at 662-645-3555.
