There are so many things that pique my curiosity about the upcoming production of “Knoxville” at Clarence Brown Theatre. Based on James Agee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, A Death in the Family, it’s an interesting pick for a musical adaptation. The story centers on a young boy’s early recollections, loss of his father and grief. But the Tony Award-winning creative team behind Ragtime and Grapes of Wrath found inspiration in the story, and next week, we will have the opportunity to see it on the esteemed stage that sits only a few blocks from James Agee’s childhood home site on Highland Avenue. Chances are slim to nil that Rocky Top made the bill.
We are pleased to offer a preview of the show at noon Wednesday, September 4, at the East Tennessee History Center, 601 S. Gay Street. Members of the cast will present a number from the show and discuss the production. Steve Cotham, Knox County historian and former manager of Knox County Public Library’s McClung Historical Collection, will talk about Agee’s time in Knoxville and share images of Agee and his mother’s family, some of the few surviving photographs from the time immediately following Agee’s father’s death.
A Death in the Family still looms large as an important work. Published in 1957, it has been in print ever since. It’s been made into a movie under the title All the Way Home and now, a musical. In 2022, Knoxville debuted at the Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota, Florida. Clarence Brown Theatre’s production is the second showing, thanks in part to the Roy Cockrum Foundation. We hope it’s bound for the floodlights of Broadway.
Mary Pom Claiborne is assistant director for marketing, communications and development for Knox County Public Library.