In 1948 American director and producer Elia Kazan started work on William’s Camino Real, a story told in a series of dream sequences set in a mythic landscape. In 1953 the play opened and quickly closed on Broadway. The Really Big Once is a theatrical recollection of the collaboration between Williams and Kazan. The work incorporates notebooks, letters, marginalia and memoirs, along with selections of dialogue and scenes from existing versions of the play.
For this project Target Margin made use of the Tennessee Williams papers held by Columbia's Rare Book & Manuscript Library, among other repositories. The archive contains notes, diaries, drafts, re-writes, scripts, typescripts, and manuscripts by Williams, including the manuscript for Camino Real.
The Target Margin Theater is an experimental company based in Brooklyn that performs in various locations throughout the city. This season the company is exploring Tennessee Williams’ life and work. The finished play will premiere Off Broadway this spring.
A reception will immediately follow the presentation. For more information regarding this event or to attend, please respond to cul-events@columbia.edu. To view a listing of events, visit: http://alumni-friends.library.columbia.edu