No official ceremony is planned in the Dayton area. There isn’t even a production of one of his plays on the current season, but one area connection endures.
The Rev. Walter and Rose Dakin, Williams’ maternal grandparents, are buried in the Miami Cemetery in the Warren County town of Corwin, just east of Waynesville. The Rev. Dakin was a minister in the Episcopal Church.
Playwright Williams, who was born Thomas Lanier Williams in Columbus, Miss., was supposed to be buried there as well.
His brother, Dakin Williams, told biographer Lyle Leverich (“Tom: The Unknown Tennessee Williams”) that he decided the writer should be buried in St. Louis, “where people could pay their respects,” rather than in “inaccessible Waynesville.”
Tennessee Williams wouldn’t have chosen St. Louis as his final destination. He hated the city, according to Leverich, who wrote that Dakin Williams made his decision shortly after a funeral director in New York told him, “We are planning to ship the remains to Waynesville, Ohio, to be buried alongside his grandparents."
Williams’ mother, Edwina Estelle Dakin, the inspiration for the mother (Amanda Wingfield) in the play “A Glass Menagerie,” was born in Marysville and lived for several years in Springfield.
Role call
• Playhouse South, 3700 Far Hills Ave., Kettering, has scheduled auditions for two upcoming productions.
Tryouts will be: at 7 p.m. Jan. 10 and 11 for “A Piece of My Heart,” a drama about women who served in the Vietnam war, and 7 p.m. Jan. 24 and 25 for the musical “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.”
“Piece of My Heart” will be produced May 13-21, “Joseph” from March 25-April 9. Call (888) 262-3792 for more information.
• Town Hall Theatre will have auditions at 3:45 p.m. Jan. 5 and 8:45 a.m. Jan. 8 for “Pinkalicious, the Musical.” a show about a girl who can’t stop eating pink cupcakes. Director Chris Harmon will consider performers ranging in age from second grade to adult. Location is Washington Twp.’s Town Hall Theatre, 27 N. Main St., Centerville. Advance registration is required.
There will be a $131 registration fee for those who are cast.
More information is available at www.townhalltheatre.org or (937) 433-8957.
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