Trio Foundation Tennessee Williams Play Reading Initiative

The Glass Menagerie

by Tennessee Williams

Williams’ greatest, most famous, and most personal play. The narrator recalls late in life how his youthful devotion to his sister Rose (Laura in the play) conflicted with his creative passions as he was about to escape from St. Louis for good. Directed by Brian Hohlfeld.
Running time: approx. 60 minutes for each part

Scholar Panel Conversations

Moderated by Tom Mitchell, TWStL Scholar-in-Residence

"Conversations: Adaptations and Tennessee Williams Today”
Thomas Keith & Annette Saddik

“Conversations: The Original Production of The Glass Menagerie”
Robert Bray & Eric Colleary

“Conversations: The Glass Menagerie and Tennessee Williams’s St. Louis”
Eric Colleary & Henry I. Schvey

Audio Tour of Tennessee’s St. Louis

Narrated by Joi Hoffsommer
Written by Tom Mitchell, TWStL Scholar-in-Residence

Starting at the Williams family home located at 4633 Westminster Place in the Central West End, retrace the roots of Tennessee Williams’s formative years. From attending high school at Soldan and University City High, to studying at Washington University, to working downtown and exploring the city’s rich cultural institutions - Tennessee Williams’s classic works were influenced by his coming of age in St. Louis.

Tennessee Williams - Biography

Tennessee Williams was born in 1911 in Columbus, Mississippi, where his grandfather was  the Episcopal clergyman. When his father, a travelling salesman, moved with his family to St  Louis some years later, both he and his sister found it impossible to settle down to city life.  He entered college during the Depression and left after a couple of years to take a clerical  job in a shoe company. He stayed there for two years, spending the evenings writing. He  entered the University of Iowa in 1938 and completed his course, at the same time holding a  large number of part-time jobs of great diversity. He received a Rockefeller fellowship in  1940 for his play BATTLE OF ANGELS, and he won the Pulitzer Prize in 1948 for A STREETCAR  NAMED DESIRE and in 1955 for CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF. Other plays include SUMMER AND  SMOKE, THE ROSE TATTOO, CAMINO REAL, BABY DOLL, THE GLASS MENAGERIE, ORPHEUS  DESCENDING, SUDDENLY LAST SUMMER, THE NIGHT OF THE IGUANA, SWEET BIRD OF  YOUTH, and THE TWO-CHARACTER PLAY. Tennessee Williams died in 1983. 

This educational program is provided to St. Louis-area schools thanks to the generous support of the Trio Foundation of St. Louis.

The Glass Menagerie is presented by special arrangement with Concord Publishing, Inc.