For Immediate Release

Onstage at Theatre Three: Vieux Carré

(Dallas, Texas) Theatre Three’s Mainstage Season of the 2006 – 2007 season continues with the classic Tennessee Williams drama, Vieux Carré. Theatre Three’s forty-sixth season features captivating dramas, exciting and innovative musicals, and hilarious comedies that celebrate the underdogs of society who fight back and make audiences stand up and cheer their efforts. Vieux Carré begins previews on Thursday, September 14, 2006 and will close on Sunday, October 15, 2006. "Instinct, it must have been…directed me here, to the Vieux Carre of New Orleans, down country as a – river flows no plan. I couldn’t have consciously, deliberately, selected a better place than here to discover – to encounter – my true nature.” —The Writer in Vieux Carré. Born out of the journals the playwright kept at the time, Tennessee Williams's Vieux Carré is not emotion recollected in tranquility, but emotion re-created with all the pain, compassion, and wry humor of the playwright's own 1938-39 sojourn in the New Orleans French Quarter vividly intact. The drama takes its form from the shifting scenes of memory, and Williams's surrogate self invites us to focus, in turn, on the various inhabitants of his dilapidated rooming house in the Vieux Carré: the comically desperate landlady, Mrs. Wire; Jane, a properly brought-up young woman from New York making at last grab at pleasure with Tye, the vulgar but appealing strip-joint barker; two decayed gentlewomen politely starving in the garret; and the dying painter Nightingale, who tries to teach the young writer something about love—both of the body and of the heart. This is a play about the education of the artist, and education in loneliness and despair, in giving and not giving, but most of all in seeing, hearing, feeling, and learning that "writers are shameless spies," who pay dearly for their knowledge and who cannot forget. About The Playwright: Tennessee Williams Thomas Lanier Williams III (March 26, 1911–February 25, 1983), better known by the pen name Tennessee Williams, was a major American playwright and one of the prominent playwrights of the twentieth century. The name "Tennessee" was a name given to him by college friends because of his southern accent and his father's background in Tennessee. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for A Streetcar Named Desire in 1948 and for Cat On a Hot Tin Roof in 1955. In addition to those two plays, The Glass Menagerie in 1945 and The Night of the Iguana in 1961 received the New York Drama Critics' Circle Awards. His 1952 play The Rose Tattoo (dedicated to his partner, Frank Merlo), received the Tony Award for best play. About Theatre Three: Theatre Three was founded in 1961 by Norma Young, Jac Alder, Esther Ragland, and Robert Dracup with a clear mission: To PRODUCE a wide range of literature for the state, ILLUMINATE the ideas and emotions the author intends to express, SUPPORT the preservation and growth of the spoken and written word, CREATE a workplace where area theatre artists can realize their potential, PROMOTE theatre as an experience for all peoples, and SERVE the immediate and larger community with good theatre art. About Theatre Three’s production of Vieux Carré: Jeffrey Schmidt will direct this production. The cast includes Cindy Beall as Mrs. Wire, Phyllis Cicero as Nursie, Shelby Davenport as Tye, Bob Hess as Nightingale, Jonathon McCurry as Sky, Mary-Margaret Pyeatt as Miss Carrie, Beau Trujillo as The Writer, Drew Robinson as Photographer/Judge, Kelly Rypkema as Jane, Scott Smith as Pick-up/Patrolman, and Jane Willingham as Mary Maude. Set design by Jeffrey Schmidt. Lighting design by Tristan Decker. Costume Design by Michael Robinson. Scenic Painting by Barbara Murrell. Sound Design by Richard Frolich. Dialogue Coaching by Angie Boling. A Note about Production Photos: Photos from Vieux Carré may be found online in Theatre Three’s Press Room at http://www.theatre3dallas.com/press/photos.html. The Official Opening: Vieux Carré Official Opening Night is Monday, September 18, 2006 at 7:30 p.m. All press please R.S.V.P to Kimberly Richard at 214-871-3300, option #2 or kimberly@theatre3dallas.com. Performance Times: Preview Performances: Thursday, September 14 at 7:30 p.m., Friday, September 15 at 8:00 p.m., Saturday, September 16 at 8:00 p.m., Sunday, September 17 at 2:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Regular Performances: Thursdays & Sundays at 7:30 p.m., Fridays & Saturdays at 8:00 p.m., Saturday & Sunday matinees at 2:30 p.m. Additional special performances: Student Morning Matinee: Wednesday, September 20, 2006 at 10 a.m. Contact Amy Mills Jackson for group rates. Miser’s Night Out: Sunday, October 8, 2006 at 7:30 p.m. All tickets $10 The Hooky Matinee: Wednesday, October 11, 2006 at 2:00 p.m. All tickets $10 Ticket Prices: Previews: $15 -- $35 (September 14 – September 18, 2006) Regular Run: $10 -- $35 (September 21 – October 15, 2006) Tickets may be purchased by calling Theatre Three’s box office at 214-871-3300, option #1. Tickets may be requested online at www.theatre3dallas.com

For Further Information Contact: By phone: 214-871-3300 By fax: 214-871-3139 By email: admin@theatre3dallas.com