Nate Sinnott, who comes from the world of stage production, and has not directed before at this level, wrote his master's thesis on Suddenly Last Summer. Currently he has on a brilliant production of this play by Tennessee Williams at California Lutheran's Black Box Theater. It’s shocking, symbolic — unlike most of Williams’ plays —Continue reading “Disaster lurks behind every moment: Suddenly Last Summer”
Category Archives: poets and poetry
Out walking with my father: Of course I remember
A new poem from Adam Zagajewski is always an occasion, and this one, blessedly, Threepenny Review put up for all to see: Out Walking with My FatherGrunwald Square, Gliwice My father remembers next to nothing. With slight exceptions.Do you remember fixing transmitters for the Home Army?Of course I remember. Were you afraid?I don’t remember. WasContinue reading “Out walking with my father: Of course I remember”
What we have over-run and on which we rely
Here's a lovely profile of a poet new to me, Kim Stafford, from High Country News' Uncommon Westerners features series. The writer finds Stafford in a coffee shop in Portland. Nearby, writes Tara Rae Miner, is "a strip of untamed land, bounded by busy roads in a dense, urban landscape. It is not a park,Continue reading “What we have over-run and on which we rely”
Past and future wars, by Donald Hall
Donald Hall has a new book out, which is always an occasion for celebration around these parts. Here's a sample poem from Poetry Daily, in which in his characteristically light, quick way, Hall brings together his future (in the past) and his past (in his present-day memory): The Bone Ring The summer when I sawContinue reading “Past and future wars, by Donald Hall”
Nakedness and freedom, by a playwright and a poet
Before he became a famous writer, while living at home and working a menial job under the thumb of his cruel father, Tennessee Williams dreamed of freedom. He wrote: Now I’m back “home”. Which isn’t quite true. The world is my home. That is what I’ve just found out… but just the same I’ve gotContinue reading “Nakedness and freedom, by a playwright and a poet”
Tennessee Williams: Sex positive activist
Although considered politically naive by some, Tennessee Williams did know how to make a scene. Especially when it came to love. If you want the unbuttoned Tennessee Williams, you have to read Dotson Rader's entertaining Cry of the Heart. It's a wonderfully breezy and entertaining book about the mature Tennessee Williams, but even better, it's a sortContinue reading “Tennessee Williams: Sex positive activist”
Jack Warner meets Tennessee Williams (or thinks he does)
From Dotson Rader's spectacularly colorful memoir of Tennessee Williams, Cry of the Heart, about his much older friend and lover, here's a note about Williams and Los Angeles: "Los Angeles [was] a city Tennessee hated more than any other in the world. "I always feel like a whore there," [he said]. "I don't appreciate worksContinue reading “Jack Warner meets Tennessee Williams (or thinks he does)”
Dawn Upshaw takes a bullet for Ojai Music Fest
That's what it looks like in this picture, from a preview last Friday from NPR: The featured music at the Ojai Music festival this year, Winds of Destiny, came from American composer George Crumb, which NPR helpfully allows us to hear next to the preview. It's stunning — in a festival sort of way. Mark Swed, of theContinue reading “Dawn Upshaw takes a bullet for Ojai Music Fest”
Tennessee Williams: The literary factory
In l937, when Tennessee Williams was twenty-six and just beginning to write plays as well as poems and stories, he and a friend named Clark Mills, who grew up to be a professor of French and poetry, set up what they called a "literary factory" in the basement of Mills' parents' home in St Louis.Continue reading “Tennessee Williams: The literary factory”
Gary Snyder: Still startling after all these years
Gary Snyder appeared last week at the Central Library in Los Angeles, as part of a tribute to his late friend Lew Welch. Snyder was in top form, about as focused and hard-hitting and charming as any man standing at a lectern could hope to be. We all should be so smart at eighty. OrContinue reading “Gary Snyder: Still startling after all these years”
Kit Stolz 