WRITING
Tennessee Williams in Provincetown
written by David Kaplan
Published October 2006
"Reading the Red in Tennessee Williams,
Courtesy of Jackson Pollock"
Provincetown Arts 2009
Alehouse 2007
translations of poetry and introductory essay to the Soken Jo
Five Approaches to Acting
Textbook series published
by Hansen Publishing Group
From Reading the Red in Tennessee Williams
“Words are a net with which to catch beauty” Tennessee Williams wrote in his teen-aged poet's notebook – and that impulse poured into his mature stagecraft. The singing musicality of his dialogue, the aria-like monologues, the memorably beautiful phrases, even in his stage directions, his ability to infuse realistic-seeming speech with poetry are distinctive aspects of Williams's virtuosity.
Williams use of color in his plays has a special beauty. Most obviously there are the colors described by characters in the play, often in moments of extremis: the Della Robbia blue of Blanche's fantasy escape in A Streetcar Named Desire , the seared white of Catherine's vision in Suddenly Last, a man's silk shirt di colore de rose! in The Rose Tattoo