A LOVELY SUNDAY FOR CREVE COEUR
[By Tennessee Williams]
PROVINCETOWN TW THEATER FESTIVAL
Produced by Gremlin Theatre
SEPTEMBER 2014
First produced in 1979, this enchanting comedy centers on four women set on protecting each other from disappointment in an efficiency apartment in St. Louis.
And, because it takes place in an apartment, that's how I staged it... complete with chicken frying on the stove! Turning it into a site-specific piece completely transformed the experience.
Dotty, suffering from a Southern Belle complex, is stuck between three well-meaning women: Bodey, her motherly German roommate; Helena, her pretentious, predatory friend; and Sophie, the sad cruller-eating German-speaking woman from upstairs. This 1979 text heralds Williams's return to the pleasing lyric cadences of his earlier writing: full of grace and humor, and very different from the broken rhythms of his other late writings. The play's scenario became the basis for the highly successful TV series The Golden Girls in the 1980s.
CREATIVE TEAM
Costumes | Clare Brauch
Sound | Katharine Horowitz
Prop Design & Stage Mgmt | Sarah Bauer
Design & Technical Direction | Carl Schoenborn
Direction | Jef Hall-Flavin
Producer | Peter Christian Hansen
CAST (Provincetown)
Bodey | Sally Ann Wright
Dorothea | Sara Richardson
Helena Brookmire | Jane Froiland
Sophie Gluck | Ellen Apel
CAST (Minneapolis)
Bodey | Suzanne Warmanen
Dorothea | Sara Richardson
Helena Brookmire | Jane Froiland
Sophie Gluck | Noe Tallen
PHOTO GALLERY
[Josh Andrus]
A Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur (2014) by Tennessee Williams, directed by Jef Hall-Flavin. A site-specific production from Gremlin Theatre at the Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theater Festival. Photo by Josh Andrus.
A Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur (2014) by Tennessee Williams, directed by Jef Hall-Flavin. A site-specific production from Gremlin Theatre at the Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theater Festival. Photo by Josh Andrus.
A Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur (2014) by Tennessee Williams, directed by Jef Hall-Flavin. A site-specific production from Gremlin Theatre at the Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theater Festival. Photo by Josh Andrus.
A Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur (2014) by Tennessee Williams, directed by Jef Hall-Flavin. A site-specific production from Gremlin Theatre at the Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theater Festival. Photo by Josh Andrus.
WHAT PEOPLE SAID
[TWIN CITIES PIONEER PRESS]
...such a disarmingly natural portrayal that I felt as if a real person may have walked in off the streetand taken her place among Williams’ highly stylized characters.
Rob Hubbard
[DAILY PLANET]
At times I was almost inside the play...
Nothing brings the efficacy of theater home more than an event in a real, non-theater space.
Rene Meyer-Grimberg
[EDGE BOSTON]
The ensemble work was spot-on, each character feeding off each other's nuances and foibles. This is a production that should be taken on the road, and with this cast:
it was simply that good.
Robert Israel