One act plays by Tennessee Williams

One act plays by Tennessee Williams is a list of the one act plays written by American playwright Tennessee Williams.

1930s one acts

"Beauty Is the Word"

"Beauty Is the Word" is Tennessee Williams' first play. The 12-page one-act was written in 1930 while Williams was a freshman at University of Missouri–Columbia and submitted to a contest run by the school's Dramatic Arts Club.Spoto (1985). p. 33.] "Beauty" was staged in competition and became the first freshman play ever to be selected for citation (it was awarded honorable mention); the college paper noted that it was "a play with an original and constructive idea, but the handling is too didactic and the dialog often too moralistic.". The play tells the story of a South Pacific missionary, Abelard, and his wife, Mabel, and "both endorses the minister's life and corrects his tendency to Victorian prudery."

"Why Do You Smoke So Much, Lily?"

"Why Do You Smoke So Much, Lily?" was written in February 1935. In it, Lily, a frustrated chain-smoking young woman, is hounded by her mother. After being discovered in the papers left to the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, "Lily" was first produced by the Chattanooga Theatre Centre (Chattanooga, TN) as part of the Fellowship of Southern Writers' Conference on Southern Literature, a biennial event hosted by the Arts and Education Council of Chattanooga.

"Cairo! Shanghai! Bombay!"

"Cairo! Shanghai! Bombay" was written in 1935.

"The Magic Tower"

"The Magic Tower" was written quickly by Williams in April 1936 in order to meet the deadline for a one-act play contest sponsored by the Webster Groves Theatre Guild in St. Louis, Missouri. [Leverich (1995). p. 167.] Williams won first place and "The Magic Tower" was performed by the Guild on October 13, 1936 to positive reviews. [Leverich (1995). p. 185.] The play tells the story of a young artist and his ex-actress wife living in a slum that they refer to as their "magic tower," following them as their optimism gradually fades.

"Summer at the Lake"

Written in 1937 under the title "Escape", "Summer at the Lake" was unproduced until November 11, 2004, when it opened at the New York City Center in a collection of rarely-seen Williams one-acts titled "Five by Tenn".cite news |last=Isherwood|first= Charles| url = http://theater2.nytimes.com/2004/11/12/theater/reviews/12five.html?ex=1180497600&en=c1c23c3e3d8fe4e4&ei=5070 |date = 2004-11-12 | title = Rhinestones Are Next Door to Glass | publisher = The New York Times | accessdate = 2007-05-28] The autobiographical play tells the story of Donald Fenway, a sensitive teenager who feels trapped by his self-absorbed Southern mother and his shoe-company executive father, who wants him to abandon his plans for college and find a menial job. The play was interpreted by several critics as "an early snapshot" of the characters and themes that later appeared in Williams' breakthrough 1944 play "The Glass Menagerie", which also focused on a combative mother and a dreamy son bent on escape.cite news |last=Lahr |first= John |authorlink= John Lahr | url = http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2004/11/22/041122crth_theatre |date = 2004-11-22 | title = Soul Sketches | publisher = The New Yorker | accessdate = 2007-05-28]

"The Palooka"

"The Palooka" is a 1937 one act about an old has-been boxer. The characters are The Palooka (Galveston Joe), The Kid and The Trainer. The Kid is nervous about his first fight, and The Palooka relieves the Kid's anxiety by telling about the fictional life he wanted to lead after he retired as Galveston Joe. Its world premiere was presented by the Chattanooga Theatre Centre (Chattanooga, TN) as part of the Fellowship of Southern Writers' Southern Writers Conference in 2000, and was later performed on October 2, 2003, by the Hartford Stage Company in Hartford, Connecticut.

"The Fat Man's Wife"

"The Fat Man's Wife" was written by Williams in 1938 but remained unproduced until November 11, 2004, when it opened at the New York City Center in a collection of rarely-seen Williams one-acts titled "Five by Tenn". The play tells the story of Vera Cartwright, a sophisticated Manhattan society lady who is forced to choose between her boorish husband, a theatrical producer, and a young playwright who has become her admirer. "The Fat Man's Wife" received the sharpest criticism of any of the five exhumed plays; in "The New Yorker", John Lahr called it a "heterosexual fantasy awash with false emotion and bad writing," and "The New York Times" noted that "Williams is obviously attempting to write in a style entirely alien to him, trying on a faux-urbane manner that fits him like a rented tuxedo in the wrong size."

"Adam and Eve on a Ferry"

"Adam and Eve on a Ferry" was written in 1939.

1940s one acts

"The Parade, or Approaching the End of a Summer"

"The Parade, or Approaching the End of a Summer" is a short autobiographical play that was written in 1941. "The Parade" is set on the wharfs of Provincetown, Massachusetts, and tells the story of a young playwright named Don dealing with his unrequited homosexual love for another man. The situations and characters in the play were "clearly drawn from a very autobiographical foundation,"Sanderson, Jordan, and Raymond W. Wachter. [http://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=16712 "Something Cloudy, Something Clear"] (fee required), Literary Encyclopedia, 2005-03-03. Retrieved on 2007-05-30.] with Don's dilemma reflecting a relationship Williams had in Provincetown with "his actual lover for [one] summer, Kip Kiernan." "The Parade" was written after a fight with Kiernan, and Williams reflected in 1962 that " [the version of Kip in that play] is very, in fact completely different from Kip as he was. When someone hurts us deeply, we no longer see them at all clearly. Not until time has put them back in focus."Leverich (1995). p. 364.] That year, Williams retitled and expanded "The Parade" into a full-length play that was produced in 1981 as "Something Cloudy, Something Clear".cite news |last=Fritscher|first= Jack| url = http://www.jackfritscher.com/PDF/TennWilliams/NY%20Art%20Theatre-Williams.pdf |date = 2001-09-20 | title = We All Live on Half of Something| publisher = Playbill | accessdate = 2007-05-30 |format= reprint] "The Parade" was not performed until 2006, when it opened on October 1 in Provincetown as part of the First Annual Provincetown Tennessee Williams Festival by Shakespeare on the Cape. Original cast members: Ben Griessmeyer, Vanessa Caye, Elliot Eustis, Megan Bartle, David Landon. Co-Directed by Jef Hall-Flavin and Eric Powell Holm.

"The Long Goodbye"

"The Long Goodbye" is a 1940 one act that deals with the male main character's memories of his life from when his family consisted of four people through his father leaving the family, his mother's death, and his sister's fall from grace. The scheme of the play consists of the main character moving out of the apartment he grew up in while experiencing extreme flashbacks of both terrible and glorious moments in his past.

"Auto Da Fé"

"Auto Da Fé" was written in 1941.

"The Lady of Larkspur Lotion"

"The Lady of Larkspur Lotion" was written in 1941. It depicts the conflict between a dreamy, delusional heroine (à la Blanche DuBois in "A Streetcar Named Desire") and her brusque, practical landlady, who wants to kick her out of her apartment.

"At Liberty"

"At Liberty" was written in 1941 and tells the story of a once-successful actress who retreats to her childhood home in Mississippi, with fantasies of resuscitating her career.

"Portrait of a Madonna"

In January 1941, Williams completed a one act play centering around "a deranged spinster living in poverty and with her memories of a former lover."Spoto (1985). p. 87.] Variously titled "Port Mad" and "The Leafless Block", he revised the play in 1944 and renamed it "Portrait of a Madonna". After seeing Jessica Tandy's performance in a 1947 West Coast production of "Madonna", Williams decided to cast her in the original production of "A Streetcar Named Desire". He later wrote, "It was instantly apparent to me that Jessica was Blanche [DuBois] ." [Williams (1975). p. 132.]

"Moony's Kid Don't Cry"

"Moony's Kid Don't Cry" originated as an eight-page melodrama titled "Hot Milk at Three in the Morning", which Williams wrote in 1930 at the University of Missouri–Columbia. "Hot Milk" was produced at UMC in 1932, and was revised and titled "Moony's Kid Don't Cry" in 1941, when it was published in Margaret Mayorga's "Best One Act Plays of 1940". [Spoto (1985). p. 89.] It was the first of Williams' plays to be published. In both versions of the play, a poor young married couple get into an argument over their child and, eventually, their relationship.

"The Strangest Kind of Romance"

"The Strangest Kind of Romance" was written in 1942.

"The Purification"

"The Purification" is the only verse play Tennessee Williams wrote; Williams recalled that it was written in the summer of 1940, although his biographer Lyle Leverich thought it more likely written in spring 1942. It was published in 1944 in the anthology "New Directions 1944" under the title "Dos Ranchos, or the Purification" (in later publications, this was shortened to "The Purification"). Set on a ranch in the mid-1800s, the play deals with an incestuous brother/sister relationship and a murder trail. [Leverich (1995). p. 447.] "The Purification" had its New York debut off-Broadway at the Theatre de Lys on December 8, 1959.

"Ten Blocks on the Camino Real"

"Ten Blocks on the Camino Real" is a one-act play that was written in early 1946 and published in Williams' 1948 play collection "American Blues"; in 1952, the playwright expanded it into a full-length play, "Camino Real". [Williams (2000.) p. 1033-1034.]

"This Property Is Condemned"

This one-act play was written in 1946. In 1966, the play was expanded into the film of the same name, which starred Natalie Wood and Robert Redford.

"27 Wagons Full of Cotton"

"27 Wagons Full of Cotton" is a 1946 one-act that Williams referred to as "a Mississippi Delta comedy." In it, Jake, a middle-aged, shady cotton gin owner burns down the mill of Silva Vicarro, a rival in the cotton business. His rival, who knows what happened but cannot prove it, seeks revenge by seducing Jake's young, frail, delicate wife, Flora. Elia Kazan's controversial 1956 movie "Baby Doll" was based on this play. Incidentally, the play's title is written as a line of trochaic pentameter (e.g. TWENty SEVen WAGons FULL of COTTon).

"The Last of My Solid Gold Watches"

"The Last of My Solid Gold Watches" was written in 1946, and centers around a Mississippi shoe salesman named Charlie Colton "whose time has passed and who pathetically echoes himself"; Williams is thought to have drawn on aspects of his father, a traveling salesman, in his portrait of Colton. [Leverich (1995.) p. 488.]

"Hello from Bertha"

"Hello from Bertha" is a 1946 one act, about the dramatic life and death of a prostitute in a low-class bordello. It is very strong and very poetic as Bertha imagines events and allusions to her last moments. There are three characters in the play: Bertha, a young prostitute who listens to Bertha, and the old lady of the house who wants to evict Bertha.

"Lord Byron's Love Letter"

Written in 1946, "Lord Byron's Love Letter" takes place in New Orleans in the late 1800s during Mardi Gras. A Spinster and an Old Woman advertise that they have one of Lord Byron's love letters (written to her grandmother). A Matron stops by to look at it and drags her partially inebriated Husband along. As the spinster reads from her grandmother's diary, it becomes apparent that the grandmother and the old woman are one and the same. According to the two women, the grandmother met Lord Byron in Greece, shortly before his death, and they had a summer filled with romance. After he died, the grandmother retired from the world and remained in complete seclusion as an honor to his memory (this does not prevent her from commenting on the spinster's every action). The Matron and her Husband aren't permitted to read the letter, only to look at it from a distance.

1950s one acts

"I Rise in Flame, Cried the Phoenix"

"I Rise in Flame, Cried the Phoenix" presents a fictionalized version of the death of English writer D. H. Lawrence on the French Riveria; Lawrence was one of Williams' chief literary influences. [Williams (2000.) p. 288.] The play was completed in 1941, but was not published until 1951, when New Directions Publishers released it in a limited edition. [Williams (2000.) p. 1030.]

"Talk to Me Like the Rain and Let Me Listen"

"Talk to Me Like the Rain and Let Me Listen" was written in 1953.

"The Dark Room"

"The Dark Room" was written in 1956.

"The Case of the Crushed Petunias"

"The Case of the Crushed Petunias" was written in 1956 and is the story of Dorothy Simple, a woman trapped in prim and proper Massachusetts. An unexpected visit from LIFE Inc. helps her break free from her dreary life.

"A Perfect Analysis Given by a Parrot"

"A Perfect Analysis Given by a Parrot" was written in 1958.

"Suddenly, Last Summer"

"Suddenly, Last Summer" was written in 1958, and debuted as part of a double-bill of one act plays written by Williams titled "Garden District" (the other one act was "Something Unspoken".) "Garden District" premiered Off-Broadway at the York Playhouse on January 7, 1958.

"Something Unspoken"

"Something Unspoken" was written in 1958, and debuted as part of a double-bill of one act plays written by Williams titled "Garden District" (the other one act was "Suddenly, Last Summer".) "Garden District" premiered Off-Broadway at the York Playhouse on January 7, 1958. The title "Garden District" is a misnomer, because while "Suddenly, Last Summer" takes place in the Garden District of New Orleans, "Something Unspoken" takes place in Meridian, Louisiana.

"And Tell Sad Stories of the Deaths of Queens"

"And Tell Sad Stories of the Deaths of Queens" was written in 1959.Scene: The beginning of Mardi Gras weekend in the French Quarter of new Orleans. The curtain rises on a living-room lighted by the soft blue dusk of a southern spring, coming through French doors open upon a patio which is a tiny replica of a Japanese garden: fish-pool, fountain, weeping willow.

1960s one acts

"Grand"

"Grand" was written in 1964.

"The Mutilated"

"The Mutilated" was written in 1966, and debuted as part of a double-bill of one act plays written by Williams titled "Slapstick Tragedy" (the other one act was "The Gnädiges Fräulein".) "Slapstick Tragedy" premiered on Broadway at the Longacre Theatre on February 22, 1966.

"The Gnädiges Fräulein"

"The Gnädiges Fräulein" was written in 1966, and debuted as part of a double-bill of one act plays written by Williams titled "Slapstick Tragedy" (the other one act was "The Mutilated".) "Slapstick Tragedy" premiered on Broadway at the Longacre Theatre on February 22, 1966.

"Now the Cats with Jewelled Claws"

"Now the Cats with Jewelled Claws" was written in 1969. Set in the anteroom of Hell, it was described by Williams biographer Donald Spoto as "gruesome....a tale of madness, depravity and death." [Spoto (1985). p. 353.]

1970s one acts

"I Can't Imagine Tomorrow"

"I Can't Imagine Tomorrow" was a two-character play written for television, broadcast with "Talk To Me Like The Rain And Let Me Listen" under the collective title "Dragon Country" on WNET-TV in 1970. Kim Stanley plays a lonely but spirited spinster being courted by a pathologically shy teacher, played by William Redfield. "Dragon Country" is available on DVD as part of the Broadway Theatre Archive.

"The Frosted Glass Coffin"

Written in 1970, "The Frosted Glass Coffin" follows a group of retirees living at a hotel in Miami, Florida. In his memoirs, Williams wrote that he believed the "rather depressing" work to be "one of [his] best short plays." [Williams (1975). p. 150.]

"The Demolition Downtown"

"The Demolition Downtown" was written in 1976.

"Kirche, Kŭche und Kinder"

"Kirche, Kŭche und Kinder" was written in 1979. The title translates as "Church, Kitchen and Children" and is a reference to a well-known German slogan.

"Lifeboat Drill"

"Lifeboat Drill" was written in 1979.

1980s one acts

"The Chalky White Substance"

"The Chalky White Substance" was written in 1980.

"This Is Peaceable Kingdom or Good Luck God"

"This Is Peaceable Kingdom or Good Luck God" was written in 1980.

"Steps Must be Gentle"

"Steps Must be Gentle" was written in 1980.

"The One Exception"

"The One Exception" was written in 1983.

One act publication history

*"27 Wagons Full of Cotton" (New Directions Publishers, February 1946, first edition)
**Collects "27 Wagons Full of Cotton", "The Lady of Larkspur Lotion", "The Last of My Solid Gold Watches", "Portrait of a Madonna", "Auto Da Fé", "Lord Byron's Love Letter", "This Property Is Condemned", "The Long Goodbye", "At Liberty", "Moony's Kid Don't Cry", "The Strangest Kind of Romance", "Hello from Bertha", and "The Purification".

*"American Blues: Five Short Plays" (Dramatists Play Service, 1948)
**Collects "The Dark Room", "Ten Blocks on the Camino Real", "The Case of the Crushed Petunias", "The Unsatisfactory Supper", and "Moony's Kid Don't Cry".

*"Dragon Country: A Book of Plays" (New Directions Publishers, 1970)
**Collects (along with the full-length play "In the Bar of a Tokyo Hotel") "I Rise in Flame, Cried the Phoenix", "The Mutilated", "I Can't Imagine Tomorrow", "Confessional", "The Frosted Glass Coffin", "The Gnädiges Fräulein", and "A Perfect Analysis Given by a Parrot".

*"Tennessee Williams, Plays 1937-1955" (Library of America, 2000)
**Collects (along with his full-length plays) "27 Wagons Full of Cotton", "The Lady of Larkspur Lotin", "The Last of My Solid Gold Watches", "Portrait of a Madonna", "Auto Da Fé", "Lord Byron's Love Letter", "This Property Is Condemned", "Talk to Me Like the Rain and Let Me Listen", and "Something Unspoken".

*"Tennessee Williams, Plays 1957-1980" (Library of America, 2000)
**Collects (along with his full-length plays) "Suddenly, Last Summer" and "The Mutilated".

*"Mister Paradise and Other One-Act Plays" (New Directions Publishers, 2005)
**Collects "These Are the Stairs You Got to Watch", "Mister Paradise", "The Palooka", "Escape", "Why Do You Smoke So Much, Lily?", "Summer at the Lake", "The Big Game", "The Pink Bedroom", "The Fat Man's Wife", "Thank You, Kind Spirit", "The Municipal Abattoir", "Adam and Eve on a Ferry", and "And Tell Sad Stories of the Deaths of Queens".

Footnotes

References

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