TENNESSEE WILLIAMS’
SUDDENLY LAST SUMMER & THE PARADE

Directed by Mikael Burke

This double-header of Tennessee Williams' one acts brings together two rarely performed plays: Suddenly Last Summer and The Parade, or Approaching the End of a Summer.

Suddenly Last Summer – While on vacation in Spain, Catharine Holly witnesses the murder of her cousin Sebastian. When Sebastian’s mother, Mrs. Venable, invites a psychiatrist to question Catharine about her story, Catherine paints a picture so horrific it’s almost unbelievable. Mrs. Venable declares the story the ravings of an insane person and has her niece institutionalized, rather than allow her beloved son's secrets to become public. In one of Tennessee Williams’ most haunting pieces of writing, how far will a mother go to preserve her son’s reputation? 

The Parade, or Approaching The End of a Summer – “Love makes some people charming, but it makes me dull.” In the summer of 1940, Williams lived in Provincetown, Mass., where he fell in love for the first time - the man was Kip Kiernan, a dancer and Canadian draft dodger. Their affair lasted most of the summer, until Kip broke it off and left with a woman. Williams immediately drafted The Parade. This short play, which is the predecessor to the full-length Something Cloudy, Something Clear, presents a portrait of how passions unrequited and passions denied can reveal the depth of compassion found in friendship.

June 2 to June 27, 2027

CREATIVE

Mikael Burke
Director