UA Theatre Students to Perform Tributes to Tennessee Williams

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — University of Alabama theatre students will perform dramatic readings from the plays of Tennessee Williams, including performances from “Glass Menagerie” and “A Streetcar Named Desire,” March 2-3 as part of a tribute to Williams and his friendship with Dr. Marian Gallaway, longtime professor of theatre at UA and director of UA’s department of theatre from 1947-1973.

The two-night tribute, which will include performances in both Demopolis and Tuscaloosa, is sponsored by UA’s department of theatre and dance and the Southern Literary Trail.

The March 2 performance, located at Gaineswood in Demopolis, will begin at 6 p.m. The March 3 performance, located at the Marian Gallaway Theatre on the UA campus, will begin at 7 p.m.

Admission is free for both events.

“It is most fitting that this tribute will be hosted on the stage of the theatre named in Marian Gallaway’s honor,” said Bill Teague, chair of UA’s department of theatre and dance.

“Marian Gallaway and Tennessee Williams met in 1938 and remained lifelong friends with Williams giving the surname ‘Gallaway’ to many of his characters,” Teague said. “The department of theatre and dance is delighted and privileged to co-sponsor this special evening with the Southern Literary Trail.”

Both performances will be directed by Allison Hetzel, associate professor of voice and acting at UA. The Gainswood performance will include a keynote address by Dr. Kenneth Holditch, author of “Tennessee Williams and the South” and professor emeritus of American literature at the University of New Orleans.

Dr. Edmond Williams, UA professor emeritus of theatre, will join Holditch to provide commentaries for the Tuscaloosa performance.

Tennessee Williams and Marian Gallaway met in 1938 at the University of Iowa, where Gallaway costumed Williams for a small role in Shakespeare’s “Henry IV, Part I.” They remained friends and became lifelong correspondents.

Gallaway joined The University of Alabama faculty in 1947 and served as director of theatre until her retirement in 1973. UA’s Marian Gallaway Theatre was named after her in 1976.

Galloway died in 1980 and left most of her estate to establish a new playwright’s fund at UA.

The performances are supported by a grant from the Alabama Humanities Foundation, a state agency of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

They are presented as part of Trailfest 2015, the Southern Literary Trail’s biennial literary festival celebrated in Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi.

Additional sponsors in Demopolis include Friends of Gaineswood, the Canebrake Players, the Demopolis High School Tiger Arts Guild and other local groups. For more information, visit www.southernliterarytrail.org.

The department of theatre and dance is part of UA’s College of Arts and Sciences, the University’s largest division and the largest liberal arts college in the state. Students from the College have won numerous national awards including Rhodes Scholarships, Goldwater Scholarships and memberships on the USA Today Academic All American Team.