New Directions Paperbook: Mister Paradise and Other One-Act Plays (Paperback)

Tennessee Williams had a distinct talent for writing short plays and, not surprisingly, this remarkable new collection of never-before-published one-acts includes some of his most poignant and hilarious characters: the indefatigable, witty and tough drag queens of And Tell Sad Stories of the Deaths of Queens...; the strange little man behind the nom de plume Mister Paradise; and the extravagant mistress who cheats on her married man in The Pink Bedroom. Most were written in the 1930s and early 1940s when Williams was already flexing his theatrical imagination. Chosen from over seventy unpublished one-acts, these are some of Williams's finest; several have premiered recently at The Hartford Stage Co., The Kennedy Center, the Manhattan Theatre Club and the Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival. Included in this volume:

• These Are the Stairs You Got to Watch
• Mister Paradise
• The Palooka
• Escape
• Why Do You Smoke So Much, Lily?
• Summer At the Lake
• The Big Game
• The Pink Bedroom
• The Fat Man's Wife
• Thank You, Kind Spirit
• The Municipal Abattoir
• Adam and Eve on a Ferry
• And Tell Sad Stories of the Deaths of Queens...

Long associated with Williams, acclaimed stage and film actors Eli Wallach and Anne Jackson provide a fresh and challenging foreword for actors, directors, and readers.