March 16, 2005 -- As part of Delta Blues Symposium XI: Imagining the Delta, the Department of Theatre at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro will present “Delta Playwrights: Scenes from Plays by Tennessee Williams and Beth Henley.”

The event is scheduled for Thursday, April 7, at 4 p.m. in the Black Box Theatre in the Fowler Center, 201 Olympic Dr., on the ASU campus. It is free and open to the public.

Directed by Stacy Alley, assistant professor in the department, and performed by drama students, the event will focus on the work of two of the most acclaimed playwrights of the 20th and 21st centuries, both natives of the Delta.

Tennessee Williams was born in Columbus, Miss., and grew up in Clarksdale, and although he spent most of his life away from his native soil, his plays such as “The Glass Menagerie” and “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” were inspired by and reflect his experiences in the Delta.

Beth Henley, a Jackson native, writes plays that focus on women in Mississippi and has won critical acclaim for her plays such as “Crimes of the Heart” and “The Miss Firecracker Contest.”

Delta Blues Symposium XI brings together students, scholars, artists, and performers to examine and celebrate the Delta’s rich cultural heritage.

Funding and other assistance has been provided by the Department of Art, Department of History, Department of Theatre, Department of Music, Heritage Studies Ph.D. Program, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Office of Diversity Initiatives, and Lecture~Concert Series.