THTR 336: TENNESSEE WILLIAMS

THE SOUTH

Thomas Lanier “Tennessee” Williams was born on March 26, 1911 in Columbus, Mississippi. His upbringing was an establisher of his perspective on society’s outcasts. He was the son of a shoe salesman and an eccentric southern belle. His older sister, Rose, spent most of her life in various mental institutions. His younger brother, Dakin, kept his distance.
The family moved to St. Louis, Missouri in 1918. At 16, Williams won $5 for his third-prized essay, “Can a Good Wife be a Good Sport?” In 1929 he saw Henrik Ibsen’s Ghosts and decided to become a playwright. After withdrawing from the University of Missouri to work for his father, Williams graduated from the University of Iowa in 1938. He moved to New Orleans and then traded ‘Tom’ for ‘Tennessee.’

EARLY HITS

In 1937, Williams produced his first play, Cairo, Shanghai, Bombay in Memphis, Tennessee. His first professionally produced play, Battle of Angels, closed due to bad reviews and a censorship controversy. However, in 1944 the New York Drama Critics’ Circle named The Glass Menagerie the best play of the season.

4 STARS

The Glass Menagerie hit Broadway in 1945. The play was the first of several Broadway hits. He won the Pulitzer Prize in 1948 for A Streetcar Named Desire and in 1955 for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Tennessee reached a new level of fame when The Glass Menagerie was made into a major motion picture in 1950 and A Streetcar Named Desire a year later.

HIS WORK

The great playwright was raw and controversial. His work is a reflection of his life in the South. His plays follow what he calls the ‘memory play’ format. In the memory play, a profound experience is interpreted and relived by the character(s). In his plays, Williams battles the conventions of society. His battles with Southern convention brought critics to place his work in the ‘Southern Gothic’ genre.

REPERTOIRE

http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/english/ms-writers/dir/williams_tennessee/media.html