Kennedy Center to present Tennessee Williams festival in 2004

Variety reports that Washington, D.C.'s Kennedy Center, which showcased the works of out composer Stephen Sondheim over the summer, will pay tribute to gay playwright Tennessee Williams during its 2003-2004 season. The 10-week festival, titled "Tennessee Williams Explored," will feature productions of A Streetcar Named Desire, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and The Glass Menagerie, along with five one-act plays, three of which will be premieres. The one-acts, billed collectively as "Five by Tenn," will include the world premieres of Adam and Eve on a Ferry, And Tell Sad Stories of the Death of Queens..., and Escape, along with I Can't Imagine Tomorrow and one other play yet to be chosen. The festival will also include Richard Thomas performing the one-man show Letters From Tennessee: A Distant Country Called Youth in June 2004 as well as the Washington Opera's presentation of Andre Previn and Philip Litell's operatic version of Streetcar. The Kennedy Center season will begin with the Goodman Theater production of the new musical Bounce, by Sondheim and John Weidman.