Tennessee Williams on Screen and Stage

For over sixty years, the plays of Tennessee Williams have tackled mental illness, sexuality, and alcoholism, and illustrated it all with a stunningly lyrical language inspired by his upbringing in Missouri. His characters were real people, with hearts and blood and soul, and it changed American theater forever. His plays, living on all over the world nearly 25 years after his death, gives credence to the fact that he is one of the most “alive” playwrights ever.

In 1957, Williams wrote a screenplay, The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond, about a Southern society girl named Fisher Willow living it up in the Roaring Twenties. Julie Harris was considered for the lead, and frequent Williams collaborator Elia Kazan was tapped for directing, but the project was soon abandoned and forgotten.

The script was published in an anthology of Williams’ screenplays, and was found by then-student Jodie Markell, now an acclaimed theatre director and actress. A self-described Williams enthusiast, she has brought it to the big screen, recognizing Willow as a “strong female character in the Memphis mold.” Bryce Dallas Howard, who plays Willow, made the insightful comment that she is like “Blanche DuBois 15 years before,” when she had the world in her hand and endless possibilities in her future.

They were part of a panel discussion entitled Tennessee Williams on Screen and Stage that was held on December 9th, hosted by the American Museum of Moving Images at the Times Center in NYC (view pic here). Moderated by New York Times theater critic Charles Isherwood, the panelists included Ellen Burstyn, Eli Wallach and Elaine Stritch. These artists spoke of the genius and creativity that Williams brought to his work, and how both his writing and his personality opened them up to new possibilities in their craft.

Markell first fell in love with Williams’ work when she played Laura in The Glass Menagerie as a teen, and identified with him as a girl from Memphis. On Williams, she had said, “his people are so unusual, so idiosyncratic, and his syntax so specific, but even at a fairly young age, I saw his universal appeal. He takes a humanitarian approach to his characters. He doesn’t judge them. He makes you understand them.”

Similarly, Howard recognized that her peers are still crazy about Williams’ work, and competing to perform as one of his classic heroines like Laura or Blanche DuBois. He wrote female characters with depth and honesty, really understanding the complexities of being a woman. Given Williams’ sexuality and the time he lived in, it’s no surprise that he would have empathy for those treated like second-class citizens in a heterosexual patriarchy.

The anecdotes about Williams’ personality were some of the best moments of the night, as Eli Wallach, having made his film debut in Baby Doll, spoke of Williams as a “jolly little fellow,” and even shared stories of working with Maureen Stapleton on Broadway in The Rose Tattoo in 1951. When Stapleton was asked, “How can you play such sick characters, surrounded by violence, incest, rape, and abuse?” she answered nonchalantly, “Well, they’re just folks.”

Finally, Elaine Stritch revealed extraordinary heart in reminiscing about the warm and giving individual that Williams was. He was generous to her while she was making her Broadway debut in the show Angel in the Wings, giving her front-row access to his play, and when she asked why, he said, “I knew you were an actress, and I love actresses.” She closed the evening with the poignant line, “If you have the talent, than you are as great as you are willing to work on it.”