The Magic Tower and Other One-Act Plays

A wonderful collection of never-before-collected one-acts: “The peak of my virtuosity was in the one- act plays. Some of which are like firecrackers in a rope” (Tennessee Williams). Here are portraits of American life during the Great Depression and after, populated by a hopelessly hopeful chorus girl, a munitions manufacturer ensnared in a love triangle, a rural family that deals “justice” on its children, an overconfident mob dandy, a poor couple who quarrel to vanquish despair, a young “spinster” enthralled by the impulse of rebellion, and, in “The Magic Tower,” a passionate artist and his wife whose youth and optimism are not enough to protect their “dream marriage.” This new volume gathers some of Williams’s most exuberant early work and includes one-acts that he would later expand to powerful full-length dramas: “The Pretty Trap,” a cheerful take on The Glass Menagerie, and “Interior: Panic,” a stunning precursor to A Streetcar Named Desire. The plays include: • At Liberty • The Magic Tower • Me, Vashya • Curtains for the Gentleman • In Our Profession • Every Twenty Minutes • Honor the Living • The Case of the Crushed Petunias • Moony’s Kid Don’t Cry • The Dark Room • The Pretty Trap • Interior: Panic • Kingdom of Earth • I Never Get Dressed Till After Dark on Sundays • Some Problems for The Moose Lodge