Columbus, MS. The Seventh Annual Tennessee Williams Tribute and Tour of Victorian Homes is set to begin September 4-7. The three-day event consists of a number of Williams’ works, as well as lectures by some of his friends, scholars and historians.

Headlining the event is award-winning actor Richard Thomas starring in Steve Lawson's stage adaptations of correspondence of Tennessee Williams ("Among the century's finest" - New Yorker)... drawn from two volumes of Selected Letters, edited by Albert J. Devlin and Nancy M. Tischler.

A Distant Country Called Youth (which traces the years from the playwright's boyhood to the New York opening of The Glass Menagerie) illuminates a young man struggling to find his artistic voice against the odds. Blanche and Beyond - which begins as Williams embarks on A Streetcar Named Desire and goes on to create The Rose Tattoo, Summer and Smoke, Camino Real, and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof - focuses on a now successful author facing the seismic shock of international fame.

Both plays premiered under Lawson’s direction at the Manhattan Theatre Club off-Broadway, and have been produced at Hartford Stage, TW New Orleans Festival, Williamstown, and the Galway Arts Festival in Ireland. Three weeks after the Columbus evenings, Lawson and Thomas will open the Kennedy Center's 2008-2009 season with Blanche and Beyond (A Distant Country Called Youth ran there in 2004).

Thomas comes to Columbus after a two-year national tour of the play, Twelve Angry Men. He has distinguished himself as an actor on Broadway, in regional theatre, in the movies and television; as well as, by his works as a producer and director. He was seven when he made his Broadway debut in Sunrise at Campobello (1958) playing John Roosevelt, son of future President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Soon after, he began his television career (1959), when he appeared in the presentation of Ibsen’s A Doll’s House. He then began acting in daytime TV, appearing in soap operas such as The Edge of Night and As the World Turns.

His first major roles in film came about in 1969 in the motion pictures Winning with Paul Newman, and Last Summer with Barbara Hershey. He rose to national prominence for his portrayal of John "John-Boy" Walton, Jr. in the 1970s CBS television series The Waltons, based on the real-life of writer, Earl Hamner, Jr. He appeared in the 1971 pilot, The Homecoming and then played the role continuously in 122 episodes until 1978.

His portrayal of “John Boy” won him an Emmy for Best Actor in a Dramatic Series in 1972. He has been acclaimed for his versatility on film, on Broadway, and at many regional theaters.

Lawson is executive director of the Williamstown Film Festival, which will mark its tenth anniversary season in October. He has also been a journalist and an award-winning writer for television.

The plays are presented by special arrangement with The University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee.

Other TWT events include lectures by Mia Phoebus, a confidante of Williams’; scholars, Dr. Angela Tumini, University of Mississippi; Dr. Ralph Voss, University of Alabama; and Brook Hanemann, Mississippi University of Women; Beverly Derden Fatherree, Hinds Community College; Dr. Kenneth Holditch, Emeritus, University of New Orleans; and Dr. Colby Kullman, University of Mississippi. Williams’ is also honored through the efforts of Joe Bonelli, actor and historian of New Orleans, who will present Tennessee Williams - Broadway and Hollywood Promote A Playwright. Guests will view posters, programs and the memorabilia collection which Bonelli assembled from Williams’ collections around the world.

Information about the social functions scheduled and other events during the festival may be found at the website: www.muw.edu/tennesseewilliams/; or by calling 1-800-327-2686. You may also write the TWT and Tour, Tennessee Williams Welcome Center, 300 Main Street, Columbus, MS. 39701, or email questions to sbcaradine@cableone.net.

The Tennessee Williams Tribute and Tour is coordinated by the Tennessee Williams Tribute and Tour of Victorian Homes Volunteer Committee. It is sponsored by: The Billups-Garth Foundation; The Columbus Convention and Visitors Bureau, Mississippi University for Women, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Columbus Arts Council, Columbus Historic Foundation, Main Street Columbus, the Columbus-Lowndes Public Library, Mississippi Humanities Council, as well as funds and donations from citizens and arts patrons.