Wednesday, April 2, 2025 - 6:00pm

Tom Mitchell, ed - Early Stories by Tennessee Williams

Presented by Left Bank Books, the Left Bank Books Foundation, & Tennessee Williams Festival St. Louis

Join us as we welcome Tom Mitchell who edited the collection of early stories written while Tennessee Williams was living in the Midwest. These thirty previously unpublished short stories written in the 1930s are a must read for fans of Tennessee Williams!

Come celebrate our 10th anniversary with TEN for TENN. Since 2016, TWSTL has celebrated Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tennessee Williams with an 10-day summer theatre Festival and scholars conference. Williams’ renowned work reflects his two decades of coming of age in St. Louis with his famed creations on the page, on the stage and cinema classics.  This year as one of our TEN FOR TENN events, we are happy to team with Left Bank Books and the University of Iowa Press for the launch of a newly published volume of short stories , EARLY STORIES BY TENNESSEE WILLIAMS, edited by TWSTL scholar Tom Mitchell with TWSTL Advisory Board member THOMAS KEITH serving as contributor to the volume.

Mitchell will personalize and sign copies after the presentation! Personalized and signed copies will be available to be mailed anywhere in the country.

Join us at Left Bank Books (399 N. Euclid Ave St. Louis, MO 63108)

By Tennessee Williams

August 7-17th, 2025  (Thursday to Saturday at 7:30pm and Sunday at 3pm)

The Grandel Theater

Friday, August 8th at 5:30pm

Courtyard at The Grandel

Always a huge and humorous event, Festival goers will shout Stella’s name. The loudest and most compelling is voted by a jury of random and less than expert volunteers who  will declare the winner.

Curated by Tom Mitchell

Saturday, August 9th

The Grandel Theater

9:00am        Tennessee in St. Louis/Tennessee in New Orleans: Between 1938 and 1940 Tennessee Williams made a transition from St. Louis to New Orleans. Experts discuss the influence of New Orleans on the work of Tennessee Williams, especially A Streetcar Named Desire.

10:00am Ten Years of Tennessee: A Conversation with Carrie Houk, Tom Mitchell, and Mark Charney: Initiated as an act of love for St. Louis’s great playwright, the Tennessee Williams Festival St. Louis has a decade of accomplishments. Founder and Executive Artistic Director, Carrie Houk, talks about the festival’s beginnings, challenges, and accomplishments.

11:00am      Streetcar Adapted for Opera, Film, and Stage: Tennessee Williams’s great play has inspired adaptations in film, onstage, and in the opera. We will learn about Andre Previn’s operatic adaptation, Novid Parsi’s dramatic retelling within an Iranian immigrant family, and the influence of Streetcar in Pedro Aldomovar’s film, “All About My Mother.”

Saturday, August 9th at 2pm

The Grandel Theater

A conversation with the award-winning actor and director whose work has included productions of Tennessee Williams plays. Austin Pendleton's long career has been distinguished by performances on stage, film and television in roles that are distinctive and committed. As a director, Pendleton has staged productions on and off Broadway and at major theatres around the country and abroad. He is also an influential acting coach. Among other plays, Austin Pendleton has worked on Tennessee Williams’s Vieux Carre, Night of the Iguana, Camino Real, The Glass Menagerie, and Small Craft Warnings. Carrie Houk, Executive Artistic Director of Tennessee Williams Festival St. Louis will host the conversation.

Led by Tom Mitchell

Sunday, August 10th at 9am

The Link Auditorium

The Williams family first settled in the Central West End and the neighborhood became important to Tennessee’s work. Beginning and ending at The Link Auditorium, this walking tour will visit neighborhood sites that relate to his life and writing. Along the way, we will hear Williams’s own words describing familiar locations. The tour will end with a READING of “God in the Free Ward,” a newly published story written in 1934 about Anna Wilkins, hospitalized with a puzzling illness, that reveals Tennessee Williams’s feelings for his sister Rose before her confinement in a mental hospital.

Sunday, August 10th at 7pm

The Grandel Theater

A special evening of readings, song, dance and music celebrating the work of Tennessee Williams.

2025 Season Preview

July 14, 2025 at St. Louis County Library

Fourth Annual TWSTL Pool Party

July 20, 2025

Missouri History Museum Thursday Night Event

July 31, 2025

Playwriting Initiative Finalists Staged Readings

Fall 2025

And more...