The 34th annual Mississippi Delta Tennessee Williams Festival will be held Oct. 15–17, 2026, in Clarksdale and will center on Tennessee Williams’ one-act play This Property Is Condemned.
That account and the festival details are reported by the Magnolia Tribune.
Magnolia Tribune says the festival will use locations across Clarksdale, including the Cutrer Mansion, the Tennessee Williams Rectory Museum, the historic district and Moon Lake. The Cutrer Mansion serves as the festival’s year‑round headquarters, the Tribune reports.
Festival director Jen Waller is listed by the Tribune as following a longtime festival “recipe” of choosing a Williams play and building events around its themes. This year’s program includes the Mississippi Delta Cultural Tour on Thursday afternoon, a conversation with film actors Mary Badham and Jon Provost, the Delta Dinner Party at Moon Lake, Cutrer Mansion tours on Saturday from approximately 1:00 to 2:15 p.m., and the festival’s signature porch plays, including performances of At Liberty.
The Tribune reports Badham and Provost accepted invitations to appear after Waller traced the 1966 film adaptation of This Property Is Condemned and its filming ties to Bay St. Louis. The film, directed by Sydney Pollack and starring Natalie Wood and Robert Redford, expanded Williams’ one‑act into a feature, according to the Tribune.
The festival traces to work by Panny Mayfield, who helped establish the event in 1992 with support from Coahoma Community College, a 1992 National Endowment for the Arts grant, and guidance from Tennessee Williams scholars, the Tribune reports. Coahoma Community College has sponsored the festival since its founding; Mayfield led it for 25 years before passing responsibility to others. Waller became director in 2022, the Tribune says.
Public festival programs are free and open to the public, while special meals require paid reservations, the Magnolia Tribune reports. The Tribune lists deltawilliamsfestival.com and VisitClarksdale.com for more information.
Jon Ross Myers is the executive editor and publisher of the Mississippi News Network, Mississippi's largest digital only media company. He can be reached at editor@tippahnews.com
