American Voices-Tazewell Thompson: Tennessee Williams was a major poet of the American Theater. More than just a great Southern writer or an iconic American playwright, he was a theatrical genius. Next to Shakespeare, he is my favorite. He was a writer of achingly beautiful language. Sensitive and dangerous, he was obsessed with, and gave vivid life to the outsiders, the “fugitive kind” of characters who were disenfranchised from society and living on the edge of life. In Sweet Bird of Youth, Williams penned two splendid misfit creations: Alexandra Del Lago, a wrung-out movie star—one of Williams’ most remarkably complex and compelling female creations; and Chance Wayne, a broke-down, beautiful hustler. Both are damaged souls searching for direction, authenticity and acceptance in a world of fierce competition and corruption.

Tazewell Thompson is a celebrated director and playwright and a previous Artistic Associate of Arena Stage. He has directed the acclaimed Arena Stage productions M. Butterfly, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Caucasian Chalk Circle, Yellowman, Playboy of the West Indies, Fences and The Glass Menagerie.