Tennessee Williams Key West Fest to Honor Playwright on Longtime Island Home

KEY WEST, Florida Keys — Internationally renowned playwright Tennessee Williams, who lived in Key West for more than 30 years, once said of his chosen home, “I work everywhere, but I work best here.” Fans of Williams’ classic plays can explore his writing and life in the island city during the Tennessee Williams Key West Festival set for March.

Events are scheduled throughout the month to celebrate the 114th anniversary of Williams’ birth on March 26, 1911. Acclaimed for plays including “The Glass Menagerie” and “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” he first visited Key West in 1941 and subsequently purchased a home where he resided for the rest of his life. 

The festival is spearheaded by the Key West Art & Historical Society, operator of the Tennessee Williams Museum. Highlights include a fundraising garden party Sunday, March 2, at the Key West home of Dennis Beaver and Bert Whitt, founders of the exhibit that became the museum. Proceeds are to support the facility.

Beaver also is to lead two curator tours of the museum, located at 513 Truman Ave. and showcasing Williams’ personal photographs, rare memorabilia, video footage and other items that chronicle his years on the island. Set for March 7 and 14, tours focus on the playwright’s classic works “A Streetcar Named Desire” and “The Rose Tattoo,” respectively.

Key West’s Tropic Cinema, 416 Eaton St., is to commemorate the playwright with film screenings on four consecutive Mondays in March. Films begin at 6:30 p.m. and include “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” “The Eccentricities of a Nightingale,” “The Rose Tattoo” and “Sweet Bird of Youth.” In addition, a free outdoor screening of “A Streetcar Named Desire” is scheduled Thursday, March 6.  

Festival attendees also can explore Key West sites associated with Williams on “A Trolley Tour Named Desire” led by Beaver, and celebrate the playwright’s era with “The Tennessee Williams Songbook,” featuring local performers Bobby Nesbitt and Carmen Rodriguez. 

Other events include a plein air painting challenge that recalls Williams’ passion for painting; contests for writers of prose and poetry; a lecture by historian Cori Convertito, Ph.D., on the playwright’s life in Key West; a themed four-course dinner; two staged theatrical readings; and a March 26 “birthday party” at the Tennessee Williams Museum.

Festival information, full schedule and ticketing: twfest.org/events