Joe Bonelli of Mississippi Public Radio fame will bring life to an American classic tonight. Bonelli is starring in a tribute to Tennessee Williams at 7 p.m. in the Giles Auditorium at the College of Architecture.
The event is free to the public and is co-sponsored by the University Honors Program, the Starkville Community Theatre and Theatre MSU.
University Honors Program Director Jack White said the performance is based on actual interviews with Williams.
“It runs like a conversation,” White said. “This show really gives an insight into his life.”
White said Bonelli, who has been performing since his childhood days in Vicksburg, plays a convincing role.
“He looks like (Williams) and sounds like him,” White said. “It’s very authentic.”
Mississippi State has a two-fold interest in featuring this program, White said. Not only will it give students access to learn about Williams’ life, it will also provide the public with an opportunity to get interested in theater without the traditional play setting.
Associate professor of theater Wayne Durst said students should take advantage of the opportunity.
“Williams was one of the lions of the 20th century in American drama. He is an incredibly well-known and moving playwright,” Durst said.
“One of the reasons this performance will be of such interest is that Williams’ drama is very rooted in Southern culture and tradition,” he added.
Williams was born in Columbus in 1911. His home is now the town’s welcome center. He attended the University of Missouri and Washington University, St. Louis. He graduated from the University of Iowa in 1938 after three of his plays had already been produced on stage. He died in 1983 in New York City.
During Williams’ lifetime, he wrote many plays including “The Glass Menagerie,” “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” and “A Streetcar Named Desire.”
Durst said “Streetcar” is so famous it has even been performed in Japanese.
Williams’ work focuses on the Southern antebellum class.
“‘Gone With the Wind’ looks at this culture one way and Williams looks at it from a different angle,” Durst said. “On one hand is the good and on the other is destruction.”