SUNDAY – THURSDAY TWFest EVENTS

Sunday, March 17
2 – 3:15 PM
STELLA SHOUTING CONTEST
Our beloved Stella Shouting Contest KICKS OFF our Festival on Sunday! Join us in Jackson Square for the annual competition to see who can best impress our judges with their rendition of Stanley Kowalski’s iconic line. Contestant signup begins at 1:30 and we take the first 25. We’re excited to have Beth Bartley d’Amour and Todd d’Amour as our Stella and Stanley. Actors Alexandra Daddario and Leslie Castay, currently filming Mayfair Witches, will be there to judge, along with Brian Sands and William Broderick. Plus, we’re once again making the Shouting Contest an awareness-raising and fundraising campaign for the New Orleans Family Justice Center, a partnership of agencies dedicated to ending domestic violence. The NOFJC provides access to free crisis services and shelter, legal aid, advocacy and case management, trauma counseling, and prevention education.
Jackson Square, free and open to the public.

 

Wednesday, March 20
7:30 PM – 9 PM—Special Event
OPENING NIGHT: TENNESSEE RISING
Tennessee Rising: The Dawn of Tennessee Williams, a solo play written and performed by Jacob Storms and originally directed for the stage by Alan Cumming, explores the formative period from 1939 – 1945 in which an unknown writer named Tom becomes the acclaimed playwright known as Tennessee, wherein his most iconic character emerges: himself. 
Our Festival Opening Night kicks off with cocktails and a visit from Tallulah Bankhead, portrayed by Leslie Castay. Doors open at 7 PM. Cash bar.
This event is sponsored by Joy and Boysie Bollinger.
Hotel Monteleone, Queen Anne Ballroom, $40 or VIP Pass.

 

Thursday, March 21

9 AM – 4 PM
Festival Headquarters open to pick up VIP and LitPasses, purchase Fest merchandise, and to buy tickets. Save time by buying tickets in advance online at www.tennesseewilliams.net/tickets.

9 AM—Special Event
THE NEW ORLEANS WRITING MARATHON
Jumpstart your writing with the New Orleans Writing Marathon! Hosted by founder Richard Louth, participants write their way across the French Quarter in cafés, pubs, bookstores, and anywhere a small group of writers can sit, write, and share their work. It’s all about writing in the moment, writing for the joy of it, and finding inspiration in one’s place. We start at the Hotel Monteleone before going out to explore the French Quarter as writers. For more information, visit www.writingmarathon.com and for questions, contact the NOWM at info@writingmarathon.com.
Writing Marathons begin at 9 AM on Thursday and Sunday. You can end your writing marathon at whatever time best fits your schedule.
Hotel Monteleone, Queen Anne Parlor, free and open to the public but please register at www.writingmarathon.com.

Thursday, March 21
10 – 11:15 AM—Writer’s Craft Session
THREE LEVELS, TWO QUESTIONS, AND THE WEIRDEST THING: SOME TOTALLY NON-GUARANTEED TIPS ON HOW TO WRITE A GREAT NOVEL—M.O. WALSH
Ever wanted to write a real page turner? What about a literary masterpiece? Why not write a book that is both lauded by critics and adored by fans? All these dreams are attainable! After all, if you’re going to spend this much time on something, you might as well do it right. In this session, New York Times bestselling novelist M.O. Walsh highlights a few ideas aspiring writers might want to keep in mind as they tackle their first novel (or second or third). Is this advice guaranteed to make your novel an international bestseller? Well, no. Might it help turn your current draft into a better version of itself, though? Heck yeah!  What more can we ask for than that?
Hotel Monteleone, Lobby Level, Royal Salon, $25 or VIP Pass.

Thursday, March 21
10 AM – 12 NOON—Walking Tour
HISTORIC STORYVILLE WALKING TOUR
Join Dianne “Gumbo Marie” Honoré on this unique, intriguing walk through parts of what was once the most notorious red-light district in the country, Storyville. Hear stories of cribs, chippies, the Tango Belt, and the last madam, along with the mayhem each night brought forth. Louis Armstrong referred to his childhood neighborhood of Black Storyville as the “worst” area in the city during Jim Crow-era New Orleans. It was also home to the beginnings of jazz, popular music joints, second lines, the birth of the baby dolls Mardi Gras tradition, and Jelly Roll Morton’s other profession. 
Other dates include: Friday, March 22 and Saturday, March 23, 10 AM – 12 NOON
Hotel Monteleone, Queen Anne Parlor, $30 or VIP Pass.

Thursday, March 21
11 AM – 12:30 PM—Walking Tour
LGBTQ+ FRENCH QUARTER TOUR
This leisurely stroll through the French Quarter focuses on New Orleans’ enchanting past with an emphasis on the neighborhood’s queer history and its rich literary heritage. See where writers lived and wrote, and learn about the incredible contributions lesbians and gay men have made to the city over its 300-year old history. Other highlights include Jackson Square, Free People of Color, the French Market, the birth of jazz, Voodoo, and a wide diversity of architecture. The tour is guided by long-time French Quarter resident Frank Perez, a local historian and professional tour guide who has written four books about French Quarter history.
Other dates include: Friday, March 22, 3:30 – 5 PM and Sunday, March 24, 1 – 2:30 PM.
Hotel Monteleone, Queen Anne Parlor, $30 or VIP Pass.

Thursday, March 21
11:30 AM – 12:45 PM—Writer’s Craft Session
REFLECTIONS AND OMISSIONS: WRITING WITH THE UNSAID—STACEY BALKUN
“In a field, I am the absence of field,” writes Mark Strand, reminding us that not all absence is nothingness. As an instrument must have a resonating chamber in order to sing, texts too depend on empty space. This craft session will focus on what can be found in the white space of a text: how can omissions render a new narrative? How can reflection and recursion pronounce and echo? What can best be represented through absence? Turning to poets who have mastered the unsaid, this craft session will explore strategies to suspend logic, narrative, and even syntax in favor of lyric and gesture.
Hotel Monteleone, Lobby Level, Royal Salon, $25 or VIP Pass.

Thursday, March 21
1 – 3 PM—Walking Tour
HISTORY OF QUEER NIGHTLIFE IN NEW ORLEANS TOUR
A 2-hour deep dive into the joy, heartbreak, and history of the New Orleans Queer Underground from the 1850s to the present. Follow the stories of sex worker street gangs, drag queens working for the mafia, jazz artists, and the queer community of today to discover the ways the queer underbelly of New Orleans has shaped the history of the entire world. With over 900 five star reviews, calling the tour “hilarious,” “deeply researched,” and “a life changing experience,” the tour restores New Orleans to its rightful place in Queer History as one of the most dynamic cultures shaping what it even means to be queer. All tours are led by artist, community organizer, and alleged spirit medium Quinn L Bishop. Total tour walking distance is just under 2 miles.
Other dates include: Friday, March 22 – Sunday, March 24, 1 – 3 PM
Crossing Bar, 439 Dauphine Street, $35 or VIP Pass.

Thursday, March 21
1:30 – 2:45 PM—Writer’s Craft Session
“THY CREATURE”: LITERARY MONSTERS IN THEORY AND PRACTICE—ADRIAN VAN YOUNG
Was Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark your favorite book as a child? Did Bram Stoker’s Dracula make you weep? Was It your most recent and memorable beach-read? If you answered “Yes!” to any of these questions, then this craft session is for you. Taking our bearings from the father of all literary monsters, the creature from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, this craft session led by creature-enthusiast and short story writer Adrian Van Young will explore literary monsters in both a literal and figurative sense of the word. Together, we’ll become taxonomists of the monstrous in fiction, investigating, discussing, and trying out monster-oriented literary principles and techniques such as: how to effectively describe your monster; how to characterize one; how and when to reveal one; and what various functions a monster can serve in the hideous cosmos that summon them forth. But never fear: our monster-investigations won’t stop there! Midway through, the craft session will shift gears into identifying and dissecting metaphorical monsters as well as literal ones. In the process, we’ll address concepts such as: the monster with a human face; the monster as a human foil; how monsters reflect their cultures of origin; the monster as a marker of otherness/difference; and—everyone’s favorite—monster lovers! Utilizing excerpts from acclaimed literary monster-engineers like Victor LaValle, Brian Evenson, Kelly Link, Carmen Maria Machado, Nathan Ballingrud, Kelly Link, Mariana Enriquez and Guillermo Del Toro, we’ll get our monster faces right! Prepare to gnash your fangs and growl.
Hotel Monteleone, Lobby Level, Royal Salon, $25 or VIP Pass.

Thursday, March 21
3 – 4:15 PM—Writer’s Craft Session
SETTING AND WORLDBUILDING—ALEX JENNINGS
We think of worldbuilding as a consideration limited to imaginary-world fantasy or science fiction stories. But world building is something we do for ourselves every day the moment we wake up, remember our present circumstances, and start our day. Alex Jennings has lived in many different places over the years, from suburban Maryland to North Africa to New Orleans, and is intimately acquainted with the feeling of culture shock. We’ll  look at what culture shock is, how it can be a valuable tool for building perspective, and rooting our stories in specific times and places. 
Hotel Monteleone, Lobby Level, Royal Salon, $25 or VIP Pass.

Thursday, March 21
5:45 – 7:15 PM—Walking Tour
FRENCH QUARTER GHOSTS AND LEGENDS TOUR
Join acclaimed local author and storyteller Ariadne Blayde for an immersive twilight walk exploring the dark local history and lore of the historic French Quarter, considered one of the most haunted districts in America. Learn about true crime, yellow fever, pirates, ghosts, and the city’s fascinating colonial history through visits to the Quarter’s most haunted places, including the infamous LaLaurie Mansion, the historic Mississippi riverfront, New Orleans’ oldest and most haunted bar, and more. Feel free to bring a drink!
Other dates include: Friday, March 22, 5:45 – 7:15 PM; Saturday, March 23, 8:30 – 10:00 PM; Sunday, March 24, 5:30 – 7:00 PM
622 Pirates Alley, meet outside Pirates Alley Cafe & Old Absinthe House, next to the Cathedral. $30 or VIP Pass.

Thursday, March 21
6:30 – 9 PM—Special Event
TRIBUTE READING: 
TENNESSEE AFTER DARK—THE EROTIC WORLD OF TENNESSEE WILLIAMS
This year’s tribute reading looks at the erotic side of Tennessee Williams in all the poetic, dramatic, comical, and surprising incarnations it has appeared. It was through the screen adaptations of his plays and the pulp movie tie-in editions they occasioned that Williams’ reputation as a writer of the salacious and steamy was cemented. However, a closer and less reductive look at his work tells a different story: depictions of sexual intensity are there to be sure, but so is tenderness, humor, beauty, exuberance, and a compassionate view of the physical connections human beings make with one another in their erotic complexity. Williams’ feelings on the subject were articulated by the character of Hannah in The Night of the Iguana when she said, “Nothing human disgusts me, unless it’s unkind, violent.” Readers this year will include Festival luminaries Jubi Ariolla-Headley, Maureen Corrigan, Michael Cunningham, Margot Douaihy, Monique Jenkinson, Jacob Storms, and Colm Tóibín, who will share selections from the playwright’s plays, poems, essays, letters, and screenplays. The annual tribute reading is curated by Festival Director Paul J. Willis and Williams editor Thomas Keith (who also hosts).
Sponsored by a generous grant from the New Orleans Theatre Association. 
Hors d’oeuvres and a cash bar at 6:30 PM; Performance at 7:30 PM.
New Orleans Jazz Museum, 400 Esplanade Avenue, $45 or VIP Pass.

Thursday, March 21
7:30 – 8:30 PM—Theatre
LAST BOHEMIA FRINGE FESTIVAL PRESENTS:
THE SINKING OPULENCE SHOW
Back by popular demand! A Cabaret celebrating the sinking of the ship that we are all aboard! Overheard as the audience was leaving, “Tennessee would have loved this—it’s an explosion POW of camp.” Like the legendary tale of The Titanic band playing as the ill-fated ocean liner sank into history’s depths, Tsarina Hellfire, Stanley Roy, and their motley crew of maritime monsters will titillate your ears and tickle your imagination. It’s the last big hurrah until the inevitable glug-glug! An over-the-top romp of Storyville style live music, theater, burlesque, and a delightful devastation of all of your senses! Brought to you by the producers of New Orleans best night out, the widely successful Les Vampyres Cabaret.
The Twilight Room, 2240 St. Claude Avenue, $35 cocktail table, $20 general admission, or VIP Pass.

Thursday, March 21
7:30 PM—Theatre
THE TENNESSEE WILLIAMS THEATRE COMPANY OF NEW ORLEANS PRESENTS:
KINGDOM OF EARTH BY TENNESSEE WILLIAMS
TWTC opens its eighth season with the Tennessee Williams thriller, Kingdom Of Earth. A dark, stormy night with the levee soon to burst amplifies the tension of the Ravenstock estate where Lot has returned home for a showdown with his half-brother Chicken. Between these two forces of nature, Myrtle finds herself suspended on a tightrope of desire, desperation, and danger. Will she, or any of the trio, survive the night? And what is there to fight over when the water threatens to wash the world away?
Performance Schedule: Thursday – Saturday, March 21 – 23 at 7:30 PM; Sunday, March 24 at 3 PM.
The Marquette Theatre, Loyola University New Orleans, 6363 St. Charles Avenue. Prices vary. Tickets at www.twtheatrenola.com.

Thursday, March 21
7:30 PM—Theatre
DELGADO COMMUNITY COLLEGE THEATRE DEPARTMENT PRESENTS:
FIVE BY TENN
We travel through five short plays by one of America’s greatest playwrights meeting characters such as Mrs. Hardwicke-Moore, a tenant in a New Orleans cockroach-infested boarding house and a young couple desperately in love trying to put things together, as they fall apart. We are introduced to New Orleans visitors during Mardi Gras in the 1890’s who hear about an encounter with Lord Byron. There is Bertha, a “scarlet lady” who has fallen on hard times, and, finally, Miss Dorothy Simple, proprietor of the Simple Notions Shop in Primandproper, Mass., who has barricaded her house and heart behind a double row of petunias. The five Tennessee Williams one-acts are The Lady of Larkspur Lotion, Talk to Me Like the Rain and Let Me Listen, Lord Byron’s Love Letter, Hello from Bertha, and The Case of the Crushed Petunias.
Performance Schedule:  Thursday – Saturday, March 21 –  23 at 7:30 PM All curtain times are at 7:30pm. 
Timothy K. Baker Theatre, Delgado Community College, Bldg. 1 Room 106W,  615 City Park Avenue. $12 or VIP Pass. Tickets at https://www.dcc.edu/academics/liberal-arts-social-sciences-education/programs/theatre/plays/default.aspx

Thursday, March 21
7:30 PM—Theatre
THE FIRE WEEDS PRESENTS:
OUTRAGED HEARTS: THE PRETTY TRAP AND INTERIOR: PANIC
Female-driven theatre company, The Fire Weeds, presents their debut production in association with the Tennessee Williams & New Orleans Literary Festival. Come discover the rarely produced prototypes for American classics The Glass Menagerie and A Streetcar Named Desire. Co-Directed by Jaclyn Bethany and Lindsey Neville, Outraged Hearts is a powerful, immersive evening featuring two early Tennessee Williams’ one-act plays. Get ready to be captivated by Williams’ unique storytelling and unforgettable characters with an unflinching feminist gaze that promises to be a night of raw emotions and powerful performances. Don’t miss this opportunity to experience the magic of Tennessee Williams.
Performance Schedule: Thursday – Friday, March 21 – 22, 7:30 PM; Saturday – Sunday, March 23 – 24, 2:30 PM and 7:30 PM; Tuesday – Friday, March 26 – 29, 7:30 PM; Saturday, March 30, 2:30 PM and 7:30 PM.
Big Couch New Orleans, 1045 Desire Street, $35 adults and $12 for students, or VIP Pass. Tickets at https://outragedhearts.bpt.me/

Thursday, March 21
9 – 10 PM—Theatre
LAST BOHEMIA FRINGE FESTIVAL PRESENTS:
THIS IS THE PEACEABLE KINGDOM, OR GOOD LUCK GOD
This funny and shocking one-act play, published in 1981, was inspired by a real-life news item from New York City’s borough of Queens, reporting on a four-day nursing strike in the spring of 1978. In Williams’s hysterical—in every sense of the word—farce, the children of some very cranky seniors are forced to take care of their parents. The Peaceable Kingdom of the title is a famous idyllic painting in which born enemies find peace and the lion lies down with the lamb. That doesn’t happen in the Queens nursing home, where the dying are not going gently or even politely. Even so, God appears. Or does God appear? This almost never seen production will be staged with puppets and live actors by the New Orleans Mudlark Public Theatre, directed by Pandora Gastelum.
The Twilight Room, 2240 St. Claude Avenue, $35 cocktail table, $20 general admission, or VIP Pass.