Attention all Tennessee Williams fans, "Merciful Delusions: 4-One Act Plays by Tennessee Williams," four rarely produced plays by Tennessee Williams, will be brought to the Off-Broadway stage in Times Square at Theatre Row from November 2nd to 12th, 2022. The two-week run presented by Merciful Delusions Productions, LLC will run Wednesday-Saturday with an additional Sunday matinee at the close of the first week. The show will be dark on November 7th & 8th.
Directed by Tony Award Nominee Lorraine Serabian, this will be the fifth production where we delve into the fantasy world of Williams’ Merciful Delusions (after which our production company is named.) Merciful Delusions was last produced pre-pandemic in 2019 at Theatre 54 at the former Shetler Studios.
The four shows being presented are Moony’s Kid Don’t Cry, The Lady of Larkspur Lotion, The Case of the Crushed Petunias, and Hello from Bertha.
Delusions of grandeur is a common theme throughout these four one-act plays. You will see a stargazing would-be lumberjack trapped in a life with a sickly woman and child, a surreal look at the world through the eyes of a dreamer, a delusional romantic writer falling in love with the precursor of Streetcar’s Blanche, and finally a dying prostitute with a fantasy love interest.
A casting announcement has not yet been released and will be forthcoming. Tickets are now on sale!
Show Descriptions
HELLO FROM BERTHA
HELLO FROM BERTHA is a gut-wrenching play about the eviction of a
dying prostitute, Bertha, from “The Valley” which is a run-down brothel in
the notorious section of East St. Louis. Incapable of working, Bertha is
confronted by the Madam, of where she is going to go while suffering from
her illness.
MOONY’S KID DON’T CRY
Moony is a star-gazer. He misses the life of being a woodcutter in the
northern woods of Canada. Moony has settled down in a large American
industrial city with his wife Jane who is sickly, and their child. Yet his
dreams of freedom and being a woodcutter continue to bother him and he
yearns for something more than the life he leads.
THE CASE OF THE CRUSHED PETUNIAS
THE CASE OF THE CRUSHED PETUNIAS is a surreal and humorous
play about a young woman who was comfortable about leading a dull and
dreary life. One night, her flower bed is trampled and she confronts the
suspect of the deed. Her life is then turned around by this mysterious
stranger.
THE LADY OF LARKSPUR LOTION
Mrs. Hardwicke-Moore is a long-time tenant in a cockroach-infested
boarding house. She lives in another world and is convinced that she owns
a Brazilian rubber plantation. The landlady, Mrs. Wire, is fed up by her not
being able to pay the rent. Mrs. Hardwicke Moore is paid a visit by another
tenant, a writer, who comes to her rescue.
All email inquiries regarding the show sent to: info@mercifuldelusions.com