Tennessee Williams New Orleans Literary Festival Journal: Day Two

After the long but great Friday, I slept very well in the Vrbo. So clean, with snacks, and a comfortable bed. Like I said, perfect.

There was a lot on today’s docket, but first was a Tennessee Williams walking tour of the French quarter. Whilst waiting for the tour guide to come collect us from the meeting spot, I met a very nice gentleman from Florida name Larry. We were having a very nice chat, and when I told him that I was the play competition winner, he got very excited. In fact he, insisted on getting a selfie with me. I have, suspicion, however, we less star struck and instead thought I was kinda cute. Shortly thereafter, we were met by the tour guide and headed out on our neighborhood journey. We visited several of the apartments Williams lived in, and learned the phrase “Shoebox Apartment.” This is not to suggest the apartment was small, although it certainly was–it referred to the fact that a tenant had to be prepared to shove all of their belongings into a shoebox and sneak out quickly. This was a necessity when the landlord would show up to collect past due rent. This is the sort of vagabond life Tennessee lived during his first time in New Orleans. One of the stories about one of these residences involved a jilted sailor out on the street shouting up to the playwright’s apartment: “Williams you bastard, you gave me crabs!”

I also learned about the Chinese and Italian histories in New Orleans–in fact, Stanley Kowalski was originally written to be Italian, but there were too many broadway plays running at that time featuring Italian villains, so Stanley was “WASPed” up. The tour guide also shared the fascinating factoid that the most common language spoken in New Orleans in the 1850s was German. As the tour guide put it, “Who do you think put sausage in all of our food?”

After the tour, I had three literary discussions I wanted to be sure to attend, the first of which was on Writing Southern Gothic in Modern New Orleans. I loved the discussion, and in particular loved learning about novelist Alex Jennings new work, “The Ballad of Perilous Graves.” In the novel, nine powerful songs have escaped from an important piano, imperiling the city of New Orleans. It falls to an 11 year old magician to find the songs and return them to the piano. Complicating the fact is the songs all think they’re people. It’s the kind of idea I wish I had thought up.

Following that I attended “History is My Muse: Finding Inspiration in the Past.” I was fascinated with several of the authors at this discussion, including Julia Mayle’s “Pelican Girls,” about poor women shipped from France to the Louisiana Territory to father to children of French colonists; Maurice Carlos Ruffin, who imagines his female ancestors were Union spies in “The American Daughters;” and perhaps most intriguing was Wendy Chin Tanner’s novel “King of the Armadillos,” which draws upon her father’s experience at the very last leprosarium in the United States, which just happened to be in Carville, Louisiana.

Next, I headed to a discussion between Maureen Corrigan and Colm Toibin. One of the great things about Colm is that he answers every question with a story. He discussed the intersection of history with his fiction, the challenges of admiring someone’s work whom you find personally repugnant, and his sequel to “Brooklyn.” (Fun fact about the film adaptation: it was the first time Saoirse Ronan played an Irish character). Even though Colm is a college professor, he doesn’t teach writing; he teaches literature, and finds that there is still joy in teaching difficult works like “Ulysses.” He find that each generation of young readers sees the book differently and develops insight he never considered, keeping the works fresh and exciting. I definitely want to study literature with Professor Toibin.

Now it was dinner time, which mean time to meet up with my friend Kara Krantz. I hadn’t seen Kara in ten years, shortly after meeting her for the very first time. She was directing one of the plays at my very first Play in a Day Festival, and since then, we’ve only been connected by social media. This would be the first time we’d have an actual conversation since the second Obama administration. Not to worry: Kara was great to talk to, and I enjoyed her company very much. We had a lovely dinner and it was great to reconnect. Kara would also attend the play reading on Sunday.

But there were to more places to be before my return to the Vrbo. I headed to a local theatre called The Twilight Room to see a one man show, entitled “Tennessee Rising: The Dawn of Tennessee Williams.” Actor Jacob Storms performed as the great playwright, chronicling his “Shoebox” period right through to his Broadway debut. Storms was phenomenal, and once the play ended in 1946, I really wanted it to continue. The play was followed by a talk back, wherein Storms discussed his acting and writing process, and how director Alan Cumming helped him refine the narrative.

And finally, I headed over to The Temple, the former home of Alistair Crowley, now owned by actor John Cameron Mitchell to see a performance of “Nightingale.” Performed by actor-musician Vinsantos, “Nightingale” was a powerful blend of monologue and music, inspired by Vinsantos’ own life and a minor character from one of Williams’ plays. Aside from being a strong actor, Vinsantos is an excellent pianist–like, Rick Wakeman good. After the show, Mitchell came out to do a talk back about the show, which Vinsantos clarified was still in the workshop stages. Mitchell was lovely, and very patient with me when I ran into him in the hallway and gushed, “You were so good in ‘Sandman!” (in my defense–he was). He also congratulated me on my playwriting award.

After the fullest of full days, I rideshared my way back to the Vrbo, and drifted off to sleep, knowing that an even bigger day awaited on Sunday.