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| name = In Masks Outrageous and Austere
| image =InMasks_Poster.png
| caption = Poster by [[Noah Scalin]] for 2012 production with [[Shirley Knight]]<ref name="artpost"/>
| writer =[[Tennessee Williams]]
| chorus =
| characters = {{
| setting = Undisclosed remote neighborhood
| premiere = April 2012
| place = Culture Project<br>[[New York City, New York]]
| orig_lang = [[English language|English]]
| subject = [[
| genre = [[Drama]], [[Humor]]
}}
'''''In Masks Outrageous and Austere''''' is the final
The play follows what Williams described as a "nightmarish", “extremely funny,” and “bizarre as hell” story involving the kidnapping of the rich southerner Babe Foxworth by a nefarious corporation.<ref name="art"/>
The play
==Overview==
===Plot===
Babe Foxworth, the world’s richest woman, has been abducted to an undisclosed
===
The subject of ''In Masks Outrageous and Austere'' according to [[Gore Vidal]] is [[death]]<ref name="deseretnews"/> and also corporate [[greed]].<ref name="pitt"/> [[Tennessee Williams]] believed the play had the content of a major work,<ref name="prosser"/> and in a 1981 ''[[Paris Review]]'' interview called the play “important,” “extremely funny,” and “bizarre as hell.”<ref name="art"/>
Linda Dorff, a scholar of Williams's later works, in her [[NYU]] doctoral dissertation categorizes the play as having an "apocalyptic conspiracy plot."<ref name="LindaDorff-p375"/> According to Dorff, ''Masks Outrageous'' and ''[[The Red Devil Battery Sign]]'' present "without doubt, the bleakest world views to be found in the Williams canon.... where characters are sure to meet with destruction." In it, "he (Williams) moves the frame of his drama onto a wide-angle epic stage and the frame becomes more serious..."<ref name="LindaDorff-p349"/>
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=== First manuscripts ===
While working on the original concepts for the play, Williams apparently never did an assembly of the developmental subject material to his liking.<ref name="prosser"/> He is known for doing wide exploration of his subjects: of character, atmosphere, and story. This exploration eventually solidifies, then becomes a final assemblage and later an approved draft. It has been suggested by [[John Uecker]], Williams's former assistant, that Williams used two plays of [[James Purdy]]'s, "Children Is All" and "Cracks" as inspiration for the content and dialogue structure.<ref name="sel"/>
Williams wrote at least three drafts, full copies of which have been identified in [[Columbia University]]'s Rare Book and Manuscript Library.<ref name="col"/> Draft fragments are held at [[Harvard University]]'s [[Houghton Library]]. The names of the drafts in chronological order are ''Tent Worms'', ''In Masks Outrageous and Austere,'' and ''Gideon's Point''. (A workshop production of ''Gideons' Point'' was produced at the [[Williamstown]] Theatre Festival in August 1982). Finally, an end draft ''Masks Outrageous'', edited by Williams with Gavin Lambert, was placed in the [[Columbia University]] archives in New York.<ref name="prosser"/>
Linda Dorff's work asserts the existence of only two drafts: ''In Masks Outrageous and Austere'', and ''Masks Outrageous''. Her 1970 date of Williams' first draft is at odds with the 1978 pointed to by other scholars. However, a draft of the play held by the [[New York Public Library for the Performing Arts]] does bear this 1970 date.<ref name="nypl"/>
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According to Prosser, Dorff is unaware of the ''Gideon's Point'' production in Williamstown (p. 375, Linda Dorff's NYU Doctoral Thesis), which is mentioned by Prosser in his book ''The Late Plays of Tennessee Williams''.<ref name="prosser"/>
Published scholarship is often unclear which of the script versions are being referenced and the titles ''Masks Outrageous'' and ''In Masks Outrageous and Austere'' are at times used interchangeably.<ref name="bare_url_c"/> This is despite the fact that the first draft (''In Masks Outrageous and Austere'') and last draft (''Masks Outrageous'') are radically different in tone and style.<ref name="prosser
===Editors===
Before his death, Williams entrusted the script to Gavin Lambert. Lambert is named as Editor on some of the drafts to the version ''Masks Outrageous''. Other drafts state “revised by Gavin Lambert.” However, how much Lambert actually contributed to the drafts has been debated by scholars. According to Prosser, Lambert's contributions left no significant changes to ''Gideon’s Point'' nor ''Masks Outrageous'', as the latter seems near identical to the former.<ref name="prosser"/> Various Lambert drafts are held at [[Boston University]].<ref name="lam"/>
In his introductions, Lambert states that he entered into the material in 1981, and also 6 months before Williams died. Linda Dorff, who interviewed Gavin Lambert in 1996, states: "According to Lambert, Williams had agreed to allow him to direct the play." She makes no assertions about his editing of it, other than his name appears as editor on the title page of an undated version.<ref name="LindaDorff-p375" />
Before Lambert died in 2005 he had interested several producers in staging Tennessee Williams final full-length play. After his death the producers continued to develop the script for production and brought in a chain of distinguished editors and dramaturgs to bring the play more in line with the dialogue, situations and structures found in William’s original drafts.<ref name="b"/>
There are two assignments of copyright at the United States Copyright Office signed January 3, 2008, and recorded January 18, 2008
For some time it was unknown who had editorial control of the manuscript. It appeared not to be Vidal.<ref name="booktv"/> A version of the script dated November 6, 2007 surfaced which bears ''Final Reconciled Draft'' on the title page,<ref name="tw"/> but did not name [[Gore Vidal]] as editor.
The final reconciled script was edited by director David Schweizer and [[dramaturg]] Joe E. Jeffreys.<ref name="e"/>
==Premiere==
The play
== References ==
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<ref name="b">{{cite news
| title = ''In Masks Outrageous and Austere''
| url
| publisher = New York Production
| date
| accessdate = 2012-03-15▼
}}</ref>
<ref name="e">{{cite news
| title = The Manuscripts
| publisher = 2012 Production of Masks Outrageous and Ausetere▼
▲| url = http://www.masksoutrageous.com/mans.html
▲| publisher = 2012 Production of Masks Outrageous and Ausetere
|
}}</ref>
<ref name="lam">{{cite news
| title = Gavin Lambert
| url = http://www.bu.edu/phpbin/archives-cc/app/details.php?id=8090&return=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bu.edu%2Fphpbin%2Farchives-cc%2Fapp%2Fbrowse.php%3Fletter%3DL
| publisher = Boston University
| date
}}</ref>
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| last = Williams
| url = http://nypl.bibliocommons.com/item/show/11843476052_in_masks_outrageous_and_austere
| publisher = New York Public Library
| date
}}</ref>
<ref name="col">{{cite news
| title = Rare Book and Manuscript Library
| publisher = Columbia University
| date
}}</ref>
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| first = Tennessee
| last = William
▲| url =
| publisher = New York: New Directions
| date = 1994
}}</ref>
<ref name="artpost">{{cite news
| title = Behind the Poster:
| first = Erik
| last = Piepenburg
| url = http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/12/behind-the-poster-in-masks-outrageous-and-austere/
| newspaper = [[The New York Times]]
| date = March 12, 2012
|
}}</ref>
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| first = Dotson
| last = Rader
| newspaper = [[The Paris Review]]
| publisher = The Art of Theater No. 5
| date = Fall 1981
}}</ref>
<ref name="deseretnews">{{cite web | url = http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,650207951,00.html | title = Gore Vidal, 82, is not slowing down |
<ref name="pitt">{{cite web | url = http://www.pitt.edu/~kloman/faq.html | title = Frequently Asked Questions | publisher = Pitt.edu | date
<ref name="bare_url_c">{{cite news
| title = WebVoyage Titles: Copyright History (1978-present): ''In Masks Outrageous and Austere''
| url = http://cocatalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?Search_Arg=in+masks+outrageous+and+austere&Search_Code=TALL&PID=eC1aB553YVVck-vO2jyig37fpIb&SEQ=20091224002736&CNT=25&HIST=1
| publisher = cocatalog.loc.gov
| date
}}</ref>
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<ref name="LindaDorff-p349">''Linda Dorff's Doctoral Thesis at Rutgers University'', p. 349</ref>
<ref name="sel">{{cite
▲<ref name="sel">{{cite web | last = Purdy | first = James | authorlink = James Purdy | year = 2009 | title = Selected Plays | publisher = Ivan R Dee | isbn = 978-1566637985 }}</ref>
<ref name="prosser">{{cite book
| url =
| last = Prosser
| first = William
| title = The late plays of Tennessee Williams
| publisher = Scarecrow Press, Inc.
| year = 2009
| isbn = 978-0-8108-6361-3
}}</ref>
<ref name="pweb">{{cite web | url = http://cocatalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?Search_Arg=masks+outrageous&Search_Code=TALL&PID=MXa69uERnrxEPd2K7nSXt6ziCObI&SEQ=20091224004306&CNT=25&HIST=1 | title = WebVoyage Titles | publisher = cocatalog.loc.gov | date
<ref name="
<ref name="
<ref name="
<ref name="nyt">{{cite news
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| first = Adam
| last = Kepler
| url =
| newspaper = [[New York Times]]
| date = March 4, 2012
|
}}</ref>
Line 244 ⟶ 190:
| title = The Late Plays of Tennessee Williams
| publisher = Scarecrow Press
| isbn =
}}
*{{cite news
Line 251 ⟶ 196:
| first = Adam
| last = Kepler
| url =
| newspaper = [[New York Times]]
| date = March 4, 2012
}}
==External links==
*[http://www.masksoutrageous.com/ Official Website for 2012 Premiere]
{{Tennessee Williams}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:In Masks Outrageous And Austere}}
[[Category:Plays by Tennessee Williams]]
[[Category:1982 plays]]
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