This full-length play is about one of the Mountain's most renowned, beloved, and controversial characters, Father James Harold Flye.

Of the play, playwright Kennesaw Williams said,  "I intend it as a sympathetic and yet not overly flattering glimpse.  Although they (the Flyes) shared a dream -- of a kind of utopian school for boys -- which was never realized, their vocations succeeded at a higher level, in the lives of those they touched by their teaching and art.  Hence the play is a story of redemption, which my Flye defines for his boys as the 'recovery of hope.'"

Close friend and confidant of such celebrated literary figures as James Agee, Andrew Lytle, and Tennessee Williams, Father Flye numbered his friendships in the hundreds and his correspondences in the thousands.  The centerpiece of his legendary career was his thirty-six years as a teacher at St. Andrews School (now St. Andrews-Sewanee).  His tenure was marked by his unconventional and sometimes controversial teaching style, his popularity with students, his lasting friendships with remarkable people, and his ultimately frustrated hope of establishing his own school.

"Cast a Long Shadow" is a fictionalized portrayal of Father Flye, his talented artist wife, Grace, and some of the "misfit" students he influenced and befriended for life.  The play is based on the author's conversations with people who knew Father Flye, the letters of Flye and his wife, and published and unpublished reminiscences of the Flyes and St. Andrews.  Although true to the facts, the play compresses some events and uses composite and created characters to present an imaginative re-creation of the central conflicts of Father Flye's life.

About the playwright - A native of Georgia, Ken Williams attended the University of California at Los Angeles and later lived in Asia for a number of years while studying and working as a translator.  Describing himself as a "pre-retired" Japanese technical translator, Williams currently lives in Monteagle with his wife, Ninian, and their daughter, Savannah.

Cast a Long Shadow is Williams' second work inspired by Father Flye.  He and his wife previously wrote a screenplay called "A Final Liaison," loosely based on an incident in the life of a former St. Andrews student who is captured in World War II and makes a life-saving human connection with a Japanese officer because of a letter from Father Flye.  Williams has also written a play called "Floaters," a spoof on the Miss Marple or Jessica Fletcher type amateur sleuth whose mere proximity seems to spawn murder.  He is an avid songwriter, an instrument-rated private pilot, and a ham radio operator.

Asked about his motivation in writing about Father Flye, Williams explains: "Of all the characters who people the history of our 'mountain,' none had so great an influence on the lives of others as Fr. Flye -- with the arguable exception perhaps of Mr. Al Capone.  Flye's iconoclastic approach to education, his unparalleled success in inspiring students to excel, his close friendships with so many notable southern writers, his eccentric artist wife, Grace, and his own idiosyncrasies all provide dramatic content."

Williams says that the greatest challenge he faced was trying to do justice to Father Flye's incredible life and influence within the compass of a two-hour play.  Yet he describes the story as "a glimpse into the lives of two people" -- Father Flye and his wife, Grace.  "I intend it as a sympathetic and yet not overly flattering glimpse.  Although they shared a dream -- of a kind of utopian school for boys -- which was never realized, their vocations succeeded at a higher level, in the lives of those they touched by their teaching and art.  Hence the play is a story of redemption, which my Flye defines for his boys as the 'recovery of hope.'"An unusual combination of high-spirited humor, profound emotion, and stark drama, "Cast a Long Shadow" will give audiences a unique insight into one of The Mountain's most intriguing characters.

If you'd like to view photos of the cast taken at the play, go to http://www.shutterfly.com/pro/SAS/castalongshadow.   These photos are for sale from the photographer, and details are on that website.