Tennessee Williams Tribute, Columbus MS
Hollywood Stars and Mississippi Locals Turn Out for Tribute
Aug 3, 2009
The birthplace of one of America’s most important playwrights, Tennessee Williams, Columbus is a town full of architectural gems. As a “hospital town” during the Civil War, Columbus was relatively unscathed compared to other Southern Cities.
One of the most popular houses to visit in the town was built after the war, but earned a place on the tourist map as the Pulitzer Prize winner’s first home. Now the Mississippi Welcome Centre, the two story Victorian house also has a prominent role in the annual Tennessee Williams Tribute and Tour of Victorian Homes.
Olympia Dukakis to Appear At 2009 Tennessee Williams Weekend
The eighth annual Tennessee Williams Tribute and Tour of Victorian Homes will be held from the 7th to the 13th of September 2009. The weekend will feature performances of plays, including A Streetcar Named Desire, tours of Victorian homes, a photographic exhibition and much more.
Academy Award winning actress Olympia Dukakis will also be attending the festival. The star of Steel Magnolias has credited Tennessee Williams with setting her free as an actress. In her memoir, Ask Me Again Tomorrow, Dukakis recalled how the first time she played Stella in a Streetcar Named Desire, “It was the first time that I felt connected to the other players on the stage that felt organic and true.”
In 2008, Dukakis starred in the Hartford Stage revival of Tennessee Williams' The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore, opposite Kevin Anderson. “An Evening With Olympia Dukakis” is set to be one of the highlights of the weekend when she appeares at the Whitfield Auditorium on College Street on Saturday September 12.
Free Tours of Tennessee Williams’ First Home
While Tennessee Williams moved to Clarksdale, Mississippi when he was three, and has referred to New Orleans as his spiritual home, his first home in Columbus deserves its reputation as an important National Literary Landmark.
Williams was born Thomas Lanier Williams in Columbus, Mississippi on March 26, 1911. He changed his name to Tennessee, the state of his father’s birth, when he was 28 years old, reportedly to distance himself from some of his earlier work. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for A Streetcar Named Desire in 1948 and for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof in 1955.
His first home was the rectory for St Paul’s Episcopal Church, where his grandfather served. Built in 1875, the Victorian home was in danger of being torn down to make room for a church expansion in 1993.
However the historic building was saved by being loaded onto flatbed trailers and moved to Main Street. After being relocated, the home was restored and opened to the public. It now serves as a Welcome Centre, where guides offer free tours seven days a week.
Tennessee Williams Tribute Weekend Tickets
From just a couple of hundred people in its first year in 2002, the Tennessee Williams Tribute and Tour of Victorian Homes has grown into a festival that more than 5,000 people have turned out for.
The festival is supported by the Columbus Convention and Visitors Bureau, grants from a number of foundations, and public donations. For more information or to buy tickets, visit the official website for the Tennessee Williams Tribute Weekend.
For other things to do while in town, or in Columbus at other times of the year, the Columbus Convention and Visitors Bureau has a list of suggestions, and a series of Columbus tourist guides which are free to download or request by mail.
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