Abingdon Theatre Company is set to launch its 25th anniversary season with the New York premiere of The Gentleman Caller, a new play by Charm playwright Philip Dawkins. Set in 1944, the new play imagines a “sexy and fraught” meeting between legendary playwrights William Inge and Tennessee Williams before their fame (the name itself being a nod to a character in Williams’ well-known play The Glass Menagerie).
Directed by Artistic Director Tony Speciale, the limited engagement will play the Cherry Lane Theatre May 5–26.
“The struggle to create while not also destroying the self in the process is one that is, I feel, as vital today as it was in the smack-middle of the last century,” says Dawkins. “Tennessee Williams and William Inge have both been such major influences not only to me but to so many others who I count as my mentors and theatre-heroes. As a Midwestern playwright myself, I take the responsibility of holding these powerful queer voices from the middle of America as a great and powerful honor.”
Tickets are currently on sale to Abingdon subscribers only. Visit AbingdonTheatre.org for more information.
Charm, inspired by the real-life story of trans icon Miss Gloria Allen, concluded a run at MCC Theater earlier this year.