Every Tuesday night for the next six months Cold Reads will focus on plays by Tennessee Williams.

This month we’re reading early one-acts, warming up for all of his first thirteen (and only successful) Broadway plays. We start one every other week, and finish it the next.

Call it a Tribute.

Our rough schedule (adjusting for holidays):

Jun 2 & 9: The Glass Menagerie (1944)
Jun 16 & 23: A Streetcar Named Desire (1947)
Jun 30 & July 6: Summer and Smoke (1948)
Jul 13 & 20: The Rose Tattoo (1951)
Jul 27 & Aug 4: Camino Real (1953)
Aug 11 & 18: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955)
Aug 25 & Sep 1: Orpheus Descending (1957)
Sep 8 & 15: Suddenly, Last Summer (1958)
Sep 23 & 30: Sweet Bird of Youth (1959)
Oct 7 & 13: Period of Adjustment (1960)
Oct 20 & 27: The Night of the Iguana (1961)
Nov 3 & 10: The Eccentricities of a Nightingale (1962)
Nov 17 & 23: The Milk Train Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore (1963)

Why Not Join Us?

We gather now in Charlotte at the Plaza Midwood Library (although we may branch out, depending on the response). Just let us know you’re coming by joining the Facebook Group event (click here).

If you don’t use Facebook, leave a comment on this page.

Can’t Commit?

Pick and choose. Come for your favorites—or the ones you don’t already know. There’s no obligation. When folks stop coming, we stop.

Not a Charlottean? Busy Tuesday Nights?

Doesn’t mean you can’t read Tennessee. Pick another day or time. Have friends over and, instead of Trivial Pursuit…

Not Close By?

No problem. We post scripts on line. Just download them to your e-reader (or print it out). You’ll need a password (copyright laws). Request one in the comment box. Then pick a time and place, call some friends.

Twenty-six weeks?

Again, that’s just our base group. Some may read all thirteen in a long weekend; others may just pick and choose. It doesn’t matter how it’s done—our goal is to encourage people to read plays.

Why Tennessee?

After Eugene O’Neill, Williams and Miller stand out as America’s titan playwrights. We read twenty by O’Neill six years ago. We’ll do Miller next.

More to come