Mississippi Delta Tennessee Williams Festival

The Mississippi Delta Tennessee Williams Festival celebrates and explores the life and works of Tennessee Williams, his Mississippi Delta roots, and the history of Clarksdale and Coahoma County.

The festival was founded by Clarksdale journalist, photographer and author Panny Mayfield, noted Williams scholar Dr. Kenneth Holditch, and Dr. Ann Abadie of the University of Mississippi, with decades of consultations and support from Williams scholar Dr. Colby Kullman, also of the University of Mississippi. The festival is now run by co-directors Karen Kohlhaas of New York's Atlantic Theater Company and Jen Waller, director of the Coahoma County Higher Education Center at the Cutrer Mansion.

Among the outstanding artists, scholars, theatre and media professionals who have enriched Clarksdale’s Tennessee Williams Festivals for the past 27 years are Ruby Dee, Dakin Williams, Anthony Herrera, Tammy Grimes, Joel Vig, Jodie Markel, John Lahr, Nancy Tischler, Ailene Hale, Al Devlin, Margaret Thornton, Thomas Keith, Karen Kohlhaas, Kenneth Holditch, Ralph Voss, Colby Kullman, Matt Foss, Dorothy Shawhan, Charlie Musselwhite, Jim O’Neal, Ann Fisher-Wirth, Maude Schuyler Clay Coop Cooper, Richard Freeman Leavitt, Lyle Leverich, Erma Duricko and Blue Roses, Eda Holmes, Alice Walker, Johnny and Susan McPhail, Sherrye Williams, Big Jack Johnson, Carmel Lonegren, Heather Hendren, Mary Margaret Miller, Sarah and George Wright, and others.

The festival is held all over the city of Clarksdale, including events in the Cutrer Mansion, named "Belvoir" by the Cutrer family, who were featured often in Williams' Delta plays.