The Mississippi Delta Tennessee Williams Festival (MDTWF) is excited to announce its 2021 dates and a preview of this year’s programming.

A hybrid in-person/online event will be presented October 14-16, with in-person presentations outdoors on the grounds of the Cutrer Mansion, broadcast over the festival’s streaming platforms available for all programming.

“The festival is founded on accessibility and committed to offering high-quality events to all interested free of charge, while seeking to remove traditional obstacles that keep people from attending the festival or feeling like it is a place for them and about them,” shared Festival Artistic Director, Dr. Matt Foss. “Though things are improving every day, we wanted to make sure we allowed open avenues for all wanting to take part in the festival during this uncertain time.”

All programming will be outdoors during the festival’s three days of events not only for continued safety precautions, but to allow a high-quality broadcast to be streamed to regional, national, and international audiences.

Using Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire as a gathering point for discussions of the culture, history, and people of the Mississippi Delta, this year’s festival features scholarly presentations on minority and underrepresented voices and artists of the area, panels, and presentations on the immigrant experience and performances of select scenes from the play by our professional ensemble.

“The neighborhood of Elysian Fields that Blanche enters in search of her sister Stella is a vibrant and diverse community full of immigrants, and traditionally othered people trying to carve
out their life and dreams,” said Foss. “We find a parallel experience with people in the Delta and Clarksdale and hope to use the play as a lens and catalyst for our conversations and learning

next October.”

The annual High School Drama competition will once again be in person but also feature online categories to build off of last year’s success and open the doors to more participation.

An in-person/online schedule with access information to the festival streams will be announced later this summer. Those interested in participating or making reservations to visit the Delta this fall are encouraged to visit the website https://deltawilliamsfestival.com/ so they can sign up for news updates through our mailing list.