Williams' THE NIGHT OF THE IGUANA Opens Debut Season in Warwick

The Sandra Feinstein-Gamm Theatre(The Gamm) opens Season 34 (2018-2019) with Tennessee Williams' rarely performed masterpiece, The Night of the Iguana. The production marks the theater's debut in its new home at 1245 Jefferson Blvd., Warwick, RI. Considered Williams' last great play, The Night of the Iguana follows defrocked Episcopal clergyman Rev. T. Lawrence Shannon and fellow guests at a dilapidated resort on the Mexican coast -- all seeking human connection while battling their personal demons.

Fred Sullivan, Jr. directs this drama about desire, love, and personal redemption. The production features Gamm Artistic Director Tony Estrellaas minister-turned-tour-guide, Shannon; Jeanine Kane as New England "spinster" and itinerant artist, Hannah Jelks; and Deb Martin as the recently widowed hotel proprietor, Maxine Faulk.

"Nothing human disgusts me unless it's unkind, violent," says Hannah Jelks to the broken, half-crazed T. Lawrence Shannon who is going to pieces. "That line could be the raison d'etre of the whole of Tennessee Williams' art. No writer better navigated the complexity and fragility of the human animal,"said Gamm Artistic Director Tony Estrella. "The original title of The Night of the Iguana was Three Acts of Grace. Tennessee saw grace as an act of resistance to a reactionary, inhuman world. If his work was 'a plea for the delicate people,' as he once said, Iguana is a primal scream, louder today than ever."

The Night of the Iguana runs from October 11-November 4 at The Gamm Theatre, 1245 Jefferson Blvd., Warwick, RI. Tickets are $44, $52 and $60; preview performances (October 11-14) are $33. Call 401-723-4266 or order online at gammtheatre.org.

ABOUT THE NIGHT OF THE IGUANA
Rev. T. Lawrence Shannon, defrocked for blasphemy and fornication, is at the end of his rope. Working as a cut-rate tour guide in Mexico, he arrives at a ramshackle hotel, owned by his recently widowed friend, with a group of mutinous Baptist ladies in tow. Will the alcoholic Shannon come to terms with his failures among the misfit guests? Or will he spiral out of control? This rarely performed masterpiece from the author of A Streetcar Named Desire (Gamm 2015) is an unforgettable tale of desire, love, and personal redemption.

CAST
Nonno, Sam Babbitt*
Frau Fahrenkopf, Maria Day
Rev. T. Lawrence Shannon, Tony Estrella*
Hank, Tom Gleadow*
Charlotte, Daraja Hinds
Hannah, Jeanine Kane*
Jake Latta, Steven Liebhauser*
Maxine Faulk, Deb Martin*
Pedro, Luis Minaya
Pancho, Jose Luis Suazo
Miss Fellowes, Michelle L. Walker
Herr Fahrenkopf, Brandon Whitehead*

CREW
Set Design by Patrick Lynch
Costume Design by Jessie Darrell Jarbadan
Lighting Design by Jeff Adelberg
Production Management by Jessica Hill
Stage Management by Robin Grady*

*Member of Actors' Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

*Followed by humanities discussion with special guests. Discussion is open to the public and free of charge

Founded in 1984, the non-profit Gamm Theatre creates the finest of live theater, engaging the audience intensely in the most salient issues of our time and all time. The Gamm further serves the public with educational outreach programming designed to support the theatrical experience, and help sustain and enhance the intellectual and cultural life of its community. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Tony Estrella and Managing Director Oliver Dow, The Gamm is a regionally recognized, award-winning theater and a proud member of New England Area Theatre (NEAT), a bargaining unit of the Actors' Equity Association.