Tennessee Williams Festival Kicks Off in Mississippi Today

The 17th annual Tennessee Williams Festival takes place this weekend (Oct. 16 and 17) in Clarksdale, Miss., where the playwright lived most of his childhood with his maternal grandparents. Williams went on parish calls with his grandfather, who was the local minister, and often heard church gossip and colorful tales that made its way into his plays. Many of the people and events in Williams’ childhood in Clarksdale were inspiration for his work.

The name Stella in A Streetcar Named Desire belonged to a friend of Williams’ mother in Clarksdale. Brick, the alcoholic athlete played by Paul Newman in the 1958 film, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, belonged to a local boy who bullied Williams while he was a student at the local elementary school. The masked balls and elaborate house parties of one of the area’s wealthiest families, the Cutrers, were a source of endless fascination to Williams. Mrs. Cutrer’s first name was Blanche. Plus, Williams’ experience living in the parish rectory with his grandparents inspired many of the morality conflicts that he wrote into his plays.

Williams moved to New Orleans as an adult, where he was able to live an openly gay lifestyle, but he continued to be inextricably tied to Clarksdale. Locals say he kept tabs on the events and gossip in the area long after he’d left it.

The Clarksdale festival is one of several annual events nationwide that are dedicated to the playwright, including one in Columbus, Miss., where Williams was born, and one in New Orleans. On offer at Clarksdale’s fête is a “Stella” shouting contest, porch plays and panel discussions on Williams’ time spent in Mississippi. No word if Diablo Cody is going to make the trip, though.

Watch a clip of Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof: