An evening with Tennessee Williams, plays about misery and human limits

▲ Postmodern Contemporary Adult Theater is preparing two more performances for September. Photo by Marco Peláez

Merry Macmasters

La Jornada Newspaper, Saturday, August 23, 2025, p. 5

The human condition reflected in characters at their limits is the leitmotif of American playwright Tennessee Williams. Several of these misfits, outcasts, losers and helpless beings paraded through the Elena Poniatowska Amor Foundation (FEPA) as part of the show An Evening with Tennessee Williams , which brings together two short but powerful plays by the author: The Marchioness of Larkspur Lotion and Talk to Me Like the Rain, as well as an epilogue in which the playwright confronts his characters. It is a creation of the company Teatro Posmoderno de Adultos Contemporáneos, directed by Héctor León X, and features live music.

Williams's work "delves into this very dark aspect in which the character always comes out defeated. These are men and women who don't find their place in this world. They wake up every day trying to find something to hold on to. The same thing happened to the author in his personal life. Williams, alongside Yukio Mishima and Truman Capote, was part of a revolution of consciences in the 1960s and 1970s.

“We are currently at the end of one era and the beginning of another, in which everything is changing. We are in a world of post-truth, post-drama, post-digitalization, and post-avant-garde. Williams is powerful here and moves us. His work is a brutal theatrical confrontation for younger generations who are unfamiliar with him. It's time to enter that world of human misery,” says León X.

A Night with Tennessee Williams is part of a trilogy that includes an adaptation of Vicente Leñero's Don Juan in Chapultepec and Emilio Carballido's Orinoco , which have already been presented.

The group, based at the FEPA (National Association of Theaters and Theaters), emerged three years ago at a workshop for older adults held at the Centro Cultural Helénico (Hellenic Cultural Center). The term "older adults" was changed to "contemporary adults" because "we work with the concept of adults from 20 to 80 years old," notes León X. Last July, the company launched a laboratory project at the FEPA, the goal of which is to assemble casts for the plays they plan to stage. Consisting of theater classes, the laboratory takes place every Tuesday from 1 to 3 p.m. As it is an ongoing project, those interested can register on the association's website.

Dramaturgy of Elena Poniatowska's work

A Night with Tennessee Williams has just offered two performances at the FEPA (Federal University of Pamplona) and is preparing others for September. However, Postmodern Theater's next major project is "to create a dramaturgy of Elena Poniatowska's work," says León X. "Based on her work, we're going to stage it, obviously with an actress. We're also going to bring Octavio Paz, Leonora Carrington, Tina Modotti, Diego Rivera, and María Félix to the stage—characters she has worked on in both fiction and documentary," the stage director specifies. The play is scheduled to be presented in October or November.

Enrique Álvarez, who plays the role of the “failed writer” in The Marchioness of Larkspur Lotion , stated that “the atmosphere of The Marchioness of Larkspur Lotion is not alien to the current reality we live in today in Mexico City. It’s easy to find loneliness, abandonment, marginalization, frustration, but also the possibilities of dreaming and living in worlds of pious fiction.”