Tennessee+Williams

Chris: Cultural
Tennessee Williams was one of the great American playwrights of the 20th century, but his cultural impact extends even to today. His play A Streetcar Named Desire has influenced modern theatre to the extent that it is considered to be one of the most important plays to date. Says PBS, Williams “ breathing life and passion into… A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE” (About). Williams writing was such an influence, that contemporary dramatists have looked at his work today and acknowledges its influence. Says the Poetry Foundation, “ pushed drama into new fields, stretched the limits of the individual play and became one of the founders of the so-called "New Drama” (Tennessee Williams). This man is culturally significant because he took inspiration for his work from Southern New Orleans, and the gay culture at the time (Williams was a homosexual). He thereafter adopted this culture into his works, which won him wide critical appeal. In the end, Tennesee Williams was a man whose “ genius was in his honesty and in the perseverance to tell his stories (About). He is still remembered today for his influences on his vivid writings.

“About: Tennessee Williams.” // American Masters //. PBS, n. d. Web 21 April 2015.

“Tennessee Williams.” // Poetry Foundation //. Poetry Foundation, n. d. Web. 21 April 2015.



Alex: Audience


The audience for Tennessee Williams is a very strange group. From his early years he was known as a romantic writer who wrote poems of unrequited love (Bio.com). This is a romantic audience, and his poems and stories were mostly about love and how it affects a person. Tennessee Williams loved his audience and with his comedic plays he was pulled out of his lifestyle of working in a factory and instead became a play writer. He is quoted as saying that the laughter of his audience enchanted him. His audience influenced him to write many plays, and regarded him as one of the best play writers of his generation. The audience thought that his best two plays were A Streetcar Named Desire and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (TWFEST). Tennessee Williams’s audience was a large demographic, mostly middle class people who went to plays.

Bio.com. //A&E Networks Television//, n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2015.

"TWFEST | The Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival." //TWFEST.// N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2015.

====Tennessee Williams, born in Columbus, Mississippi, 1911, became one of the best known playwrights of the 20th century. Furthermore, "his first two Broadway plays, The Glass Menagerie and A Streetcar Named Desire, secured Tennessee Williams's place, along with Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller" ("Tennessee Williams"). Aspects of his writing brought forth a new vision to American literature through a unique setting, behavior, and energy. Williams was known to have tied contemporary drama with original literary and theater tradition. Before he was forty years old, he was already the best known playwright in America with high demand from multiple critics. However, he began excessive drinking and in the 1960's, transferred toward becoming a well known alcoholic. Nevertheless, his writing was still well known and parts of his life, such as his homosexuality, were reflected in characters within his plays. Williams would base characters within his writing that were merely based off of himself and his feelings toward his life experiences as being openly gay. This, along with his attitude towards women, race, and American culture, have changed American theatrical history, bring forth modern and futuristic culture and society.====

"Tennessee Williams." //Poetry Foundation//. Poetry Foundation, 3 Jan. 2005. Web. 23 Apr. 2015.
Efren Barron



Aim

Tennessee Williams was an American playwright who sought out to present the truth of life. He grew up a simple life and began to write when he moved the the urban city of St. Louis, Missouri. As stated in a bibliography about Tennessee, “carefree nature of his boyhood was stripped in his new urban home” (“Tennessee Williams”). This was when he began to write and find interests in literature. After college he moved to New Orleans, where he changed his name and got a job as a playwright. To find the true purpose of his writing one must evaluate his words when he stated, “But I don't think that anything that occurs in life should be omitted from art, though the artist should present it in a fashion that is artistic and not ugly. I set out to tell the truth. And sometimes the truth is shocking” (Rader). Williams purpose was simple, present life experiences in an artistic form and keeping it as original as possible. With his plays and writings he inspired many and opened the eyes of his audience to see deeper in regards to everyday experiences.

Rader, Dotson. “Tennessee Williams, The Art of Theater No. 5." //Paris Review//. n.d. Web. 23 April 2015. "Tennessee Williams." //Bio//. A&E Television Networks, 2015. Web. 23 Apr. 2015.