Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival to be Held 3/21-25

Stage and page luminaries Amanda Plummer, Piper Laurie and John Guare are some of the tony headliners who will participate in the Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival, March 21-25, 2012.

Laurie and Plummer will talk about their Broadway turns as Laura Wingfield in Tennessee Williams' classic play, The Glass Menagerie (1965 and 1983, respectively) as attendees sip a Ramos Gin Fizz, a delectable Southern libation provided by Hendrick's Gin.

Plummer, surely thrilled about her father Christopher's Oscar triumph, will be returning to the NY stage in Tennessee Williams’ The Two-Character Play. The production will be directed by Gene David Kirk, artistic director of London’s Jermyn Street Theatre, based on his critically acclaimed 2010 London staging.

Playwright John Guare (The House of Blue Leaves, Six Degrees of Separation), who was a big hit at the 2009 Festival, is back to offer insights on a number of topics, including racial issues in 1801 New Orleans, which are at the core of his 2010 play, A Free Man of Color.

It just so happens that the Festival is a reunion of sorts between Laurie and Guare, who chose the actress to star in the first production of his 1977 play, Marco Polo Sings a Solo, one of the many interesting anecdotes in Laurie's new memoir, Learning to Live Out Loud.

The Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival marks its 26th anniversary, March 21-25. The five-day fête honors the legendary Tennessee Williams, his works, and literary life in the adopted city he called his “spiritual home” and features two days of master classes; a roster of lively discussions among distinguished panelists; celebrity interviews; theater, food and music events; a scholars' conference; a poetry slam, writing marathon and breakfast book club; French Quarter literary walking tours; a book fair; short fiction, poetry and one-act play competitions; and special evening events and parties.

For more information about the festival visit http://www.tennesseewilliams.net/.