Short Stories from the unpublished desk of Tennessee Williams
“Knier, who is a talented triple-threat as actor, composer and singer, interweaves his own lovely compositions…providing segues from one story to the next, some with poignance, others with humor.”
-Jeffrey Eric Jenkins, March 7th, 2020
With performances in New Orleans and St. Louis canceled because of COVID-19 concerns, Tom Mitchell’s production of “Amor Perdido” stands still while memories from a three day run at the Station Theatre of Urbana Illinois burn fresh in audience’s minds. In the show, scenes of never before seen Tennessee Williams stories were read and acted out by Scott Knier and fellow cast members. Scott wrote a large volume of folk songs for the production, but only six were used in the final product. In a smile politely article, Director: Tom Mitchell was asked about the music and how composer Scott Knier incorporated it into the show:
Mitchell: “Scott and I began talking about creating music for the stories two years ago. He brings his own interest in the troubadour music of Bob Dylan and Woody Guthrie to the project – thinking of how musicians are found playing on street corners of New Orleans. His music is inspired by language and characters in the stories.” (smilepolitely.com)
Scott writes in the program about the music, stating:
“the original music created and improvised on for this production has been written to capture the spirit of the Walt Whitman’s term “Loafer,” or Baudelaire’s: “Flaneur”. The attention and conviction of the music is thrust onto the internal feeling of a wayward player on a street corner or park bench picking at their instrument of choice and expressing their experience and internal thoughts by creating soft impressions of musical air into the sand-like surroundings that fold and sink away as soon as the sound is made.” (S. C. Knier)
An interview with Scott Knier revealed that he is in the progress to turn his folk songs into three full length albums. His first recording session was completed a week before the show premiered in Urbana.
“The three albums follow my intent of capturing the joy and frustration of modern Americans through the medium of the ‘other’. The people who don’t find their joys in traditional societal pathways like consumerism are a different kind of people. They have very honest and meaningful things to say about this country…They are the people that inspire me to listen harder and speak softer…” (S. C. Knier)
Jeffery Eric Jenkins’ review with the Urbana News Gazette:
https://www.news-gazette.com/news/amor-perdido-offers-rich-tales-of-lost-love/article_e0cc4135-fbb6-5dfa-98b7-6b46818d0300.html
Anthony Zill’s article with the Urbana News Gazette:
https://www.news-gazette.com/arts-entertainment/theater/ui-station-theatre-team-up-to-put-spotlight-on-little/article_aa0e31e0-a7c1-5302-b7e1-377880486e4f.html
Smile Politely’s interview with Director Tom Mitchell
http://smilepolitely.com/arts/the_station_and_illinois_theatre_unite_for_amor_perdido_lost_love/
Contact Scott via email:
http://scottknier.com/contact/
Read more on Scott Knier:
http://scottknier.com/authorship-and-artistry/