For Further Discussions 1. Read Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams. Discuss some of the themes that this play shares with A Streetcar Named Desire. Are there any similarities with the characters in each play? 2. Research the life of Tennessee Williams. What are some of the events in his life that shaped his writing? 3. Some of America’s most distinctive authors have hailed from the South. Read some of the works by Flannery O’Connor, Carson McCullers, William Faulkner, Ernest Gaines, or other Southern writers. What sensibilities, if any, do these writers share with Tennessee Williams? 4. How sympathetic are you about the plight of Blanche? Explain your answer. 5. Today, New Orleans is a city known for its celebration of cultural diversity, the best known celebration being the Mardi Gras. Research the history of New Orleans from its original inhabitants, the slave trade, and the French occupation to its current state today. 6. Blanche tells Mitch, “Show me a person that hasn’t known sorrow, and I’ll show you a superficial person.” What do you make of this comment? Do you think there is any truth in it? 7. Review the scene at the top of the play where Eunice brings Blanche into Stanley and Stella’s apartment. Why do you think Tennessee Williams chooses to introduce Blanche with this scene? 8. The are many colloquialisms and slang words that are used throughout A Streetcar Named Desire. Cull the script for as many expressions that you think are representative of the time, region, and the characters—phrases that aren’t part of your idiom. 9. The use of music, both real and imagined (Blanche is haunted by the dance music she heard the night her husband committed suicide), creates a certain emotional setting as well as indicating the time period. As the Geva Theatre staff noted in their study guide, “from as early as his play The Glass Menagerie, Williams was interested in a concept he called "the new plastic theatre," a theatrical type of expressionism incorporating lighting, music, sound, and other dramatic elements. His brilliant use of symbols to underscore, enhance and contrast the content and action of his plays influenced the designers of his productions and became Williams' trademark. While this was a fairly new concept in the forties, it’s one common approach among many today. Are there elements of our production that Williams would have considered appropriate? Does our production serve his play?
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