Play Guide [1.2MB PDF] - Arizona Theatre Company

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WILLIAMS PLAYS sixty short stories, over a hundred poems, dozens of short plays and screenplays, and an autobiography. The awards he received are too numerous to mention, but the most impressive include two Pulitzer Prizes, four New York Drama Critics Awards, a Tony Award, and an honorary doctorate from Harvard University. He was honored by President Carter at the Kennedy Center in 1979 for his life’s work. In 1995, Tennessee Williams joined the small group of people honored by the U.S. Post Offi ce when they released a stamp bearing his image honoring him for his playwriting work. Williams is undoubtedly one of the greatest American playwrights to ever live, and throughout his tumultuous life he created many rich plays and characters for the theatre. Plays by Tennessee Williams: The Glass Menagerie The Glass Menagerie (1944) A Streetcar Named Desire (1947) Tennessee’s Williams grave Summer and Smoke (1948) The Rose Tattoo (1951) Camino Real (1953) Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955) Baby Doll (1956) Orpheus Descending (1957) Suddenly, Last Summer (1958) Sweet Bird of Youth (1959) Period of Adjustment (1960) The Night of the Iguana (1961) The Eccentricities of a Nightingale (1962, rewriting of Summer and Smoke) The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore (1963) The Mutilated (1965) The Seven Descents of Myrtle (1968, aka Kingdom of Earth) In the Bar of a Tokyo Hotel (1969) Will Mr. Merriweather Return from Memphis? (1969) Small Craft Warnings (1972) The Two-Character Play (1973) Out Cry (1973, rewriting of The Two-Character Play) The Red Devil Battery Sign (1975) This Is (An Entertainment) (1976) Vieux Carré (1977) A Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur (1979) Clothes for a Summer Hotel (1980) The Notebook of Trigorin (1980) Something Cloudy, Something Clear (1981) A House Not Meant to Stand (1982) U.S. Postage stamp honoring Tennessee Williams In Masks Outrageous and Austere (1983) Arizona Theatre Company Play Guide 8
MEMORY MEMORY PLAYS The Glass Menagerie is often described as a memory play. Just what does that mean? In the stage directions Tennessee Williams writes “The scene is memory and is therefore nonrealistic. Memory takes a lot of poetic license. It omits some details, others are exaggerated, according to the emotional value of the articles it touches, for memory is seated predominantly in the heart.” A memory play is therefore a play that is set apart from reality. In The Glass Menagerie, the events of the play are being remembered through the lens of Tom’s experiences. Thus, each event is colored by his perspective. Memory plays must have a narrator, someone whose memories guide the audience through the events of the play. Actor Catalina Maynard who plays Amanda in ATC’s production of The Glass Menagerie TIME FRAME Memory plays became popular in American playwriting after World War II. At that time “many American playwrights Actor Barbra Wengerd who plays Laura in ATC’s production of The Glass Menagerie OTHER MEMORY PLAYS To Kill A Mockingbird The Glass Menagerie The Kite Runner Dancing at Lughnasa How I Learned to Drive I Never Sang for My Father Side Man began to tap into the power of memory as a narrative device. Infl uenced by the forces that were shaping American society, especially the psychoanalytical concepts of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, these playwrights used the concept of memory to fuel non-linear plots and intense character development.”* As a memory play, Tennessee’s Williams’ The Glass Menagerie explored territory that was new and exciting to theatre goers because it was something that had never been seen before. - * from http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/content/2378/ The Glass Menagerie takes place in 1937. The novel Gone With the Wind has already been published and the headline on Tom’s newspaper reads “Franco Triumphs.” Below are some events that were happening during that time: Arizona Theatre Company Play Guide 9
Page 1 and 2: Play Guide The Glass Menagerie Ariz
Page 3 and 4: WHO WE ARE Arizona Theatre Company
Page 5 and 6: SYNOPSIS Laura A socially awkward a
Page 7: WILLIAMS were still people in New O
Page 11 and 12: TIME DEPRESSION We’ll cut out bod
Page 13 and 14: WOMEN A 1936 poll in Fortune magazi
Page 15 and 16: DEFENSE IN DEFENSE OF THE MATRIARCH
Page 17 and 18: HISTORY Costume Design for the Gent
Page 19 and 20: HISTORY TERMS The Bombing of Guerni
Page 21 and 22: TERMS Milk Fund: “Milk funds” w
Page 23 and 24: MOVIES DEPRESSION SHOPPING LIST—1
Page 25 and 26: SYMBOLISM Tom describes the gentlem
Page 27 and 28: DISCUSSION 5. What is the signifi c
Page 29 and 30: 3. Discuss the symbol of the glass
Page 31 and 32: - Speaking characters are shown by
Page 33 and 34: 2) Have each student return to his
Page 35 and 36: Debriefi ng Questions 1. Do you fee
Page 37 and 38: The Glass Menagerie 6) Depending on
Page 39: Sample Monologue 2 (The girl in thi

Play Guide [1.2MB PDF] - Arizona Theatre Company

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