Tennessee Williams

Professor Enoch Brater:"Reflections on Tennessee Williams' Centenary Year"

The year 2011 marked the 100th year of the playwright Tennessee Williams' birth, offering us the opportunity to access his contribution to the shape and scope of American drama.  Performances of his plays in New York and even at the ComedieFrancaise in Paris, as well as academic conferences in North America and elsewhere, made clear the major impact his work continues to have on the dramatic imagination.  This talk will highlight some of the big moments of Williams' activity in 2011, and discuss the central issues that place him, along with Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller, as one of the "big three" in the history of American theater.