Essay Summer and Smoke

Born in the early 1900s in Columbus, Mississippi, Tennessee Williams is an American playwright. His plays are famous for including romance and human frustration. According to many critics, Williams “pushed drama into new fields, stretched the limits of the individual play and became one of the founders of the so-called ‘New Drama’ (“Tennessee Williams”). One of Williams’ most famous plays, A Streetcar Named Desire, was the second play in history to win the Pulitzer Prize and the New York Drama Critics Circle Award. Written in 1947, this play focuses on the emotional life of Blanche DuBois, a school teacher from Mississippi who has suddenly arrived at her sister Stella’s apartment in New Orleans, jobless, moneyless, and most importantly, propertyless.Throughout

Tennessee Williams is regarded as a pioneering playwright of American theatre. Through his plays, Williams addresses important issues that no other writers of his time were willing to discuss, including addiction, substance abuse, and mental illness. Recurring themes in William’s works include the dysfunctional family, obsessive and absent mothers and fathers, and emotionally damaged women. These characters were inspired by his experiences with his own family. These characters appear repeatedly in his works with their own recurring themes. Through The Glass Menagerie and A Streetcar Named Desire, Tennessee Williams presents the similar thematic elements of illusion, escape, and fragility between the two plays, proving that although similar, the themes within these plays are not simply recycled, as the differences in their respective texts highlight the differences of the human condition.

The play Death of a Salesman, originally premiered on broadway at the Morosco Theatre on February 10, 1949. Met with great success, the show ran for more than 740 performances and been revived on broadway four times.

In the late 1930s, Katherine Dunham had one of the most successful dance careers in American and European theater of the 20th century and has been called the "Matriarch and Queen Mother of Black Dance", production. One of her early appearances was in Cabin in the Sky, staged by George Balanchine that ran for 20 weeks in New York, with Dunham in the stunning role of “Georgia Brown”. Another famous role as a seductress during this period was the “Woman with a Cigar” from her solo role in the revue Shore Excursion. Her sense of rhythm, theater and costuming, as well as her choreography and dancing, put serious African American vernacular dance on the map once and for all.

    Tennessee Williams allows the main characters in the plays, A Streetcar Named Desire and The Glass Menagerie, to live miserable lives, which they first try to deny and later try to change.  The downfall and denial of the Southern gentlewoman is a common theme in both plays.  The characters, Blanche DuBois from A Streetcar Named Desire and Amanda from The Glass Menagerie are prime examples.  Blanche and Amanda have had, and continue to have, many struggles in their lives.  The problem is that Williams never lets the two women work through these problems and move on.  The two ladies are allowed to destroy themselves and Williams invites the audience to watch them in

Kander’s music resonated strong raging romanticism as seen in stage musicals and theater. In 1962, the producer of ‘A Family Affair’ hired Kander and Fred Ebb to open the show in Alvin theater which was not a hit but it solidified their bond. ‘Cabaret’ which opened on 20

Vaudeville was very popular from the late 1800s to the early 1900s in North America. Vaudeville shows were made up of many random acts that were placed together in a common play bill. Some acts were, for example, plays, clowns, jugglers, comedians, etc. Once the radio was introduced, vaudeville’s started to become less popular as the radio’s popularity started to increase. The radio started out with maximum five programs but as the demand for radios increased so did the amount of programs, which went up to almost 500. Radios was the place families and friends gathered to hear the news, sporting events, music, entertainment, etc. One show millions of people listened to was The Burns and Allen Show, starring George Burns and Gracie Allen.

The musical, Shultz explains, was written in the Spring of 1890, and although at the beginning was considered scandalous, it is now considered a classic of dramatic literature, as it has influenced and anticipated a lot of other dramatic forms. It is a very influential play even though not well known to mainstream audiences. At the time of its creation it was very reviled and controversial, and because of that it was not given a sage until 1906 in Berlin. After than, the production was banned in many places until 1974, when in England the

Sounds like the fireworks going off in the basement helped the audience get immersed into the show. The lights were usually had the whole stage illuminated and was kind of boring, but the way that they brought the lights on when a character would flip to turn the lights would add realism to the show. Props were used throughout the show and were well placed. In fact, I saw a radio that looked exactly the one that was in the show Annie performed by the Palm Springs High School Theatre which makes sense since they both take place during the same time period. The set looked very realistic and included nothing that was created in modern times like iphones or printers. Costumes were chosen very well in my opinion with my favorites being the police ones. Also, none of the clothing looked very modern. After taking a deeper look into the things that occurred to improve the show and how the actors looked, I think that the Palm Canyon Theatre improved the show and made the audience feel more

The 1955 Response Paper The production I watched was Maple and Vine by Jordan Harrison which was directed by Sean Ryan. The play took place at the Jones Playhouse Theater as a UW School of Drama production. The play took place from January 20-29. I was most intrigued by the sophistication of Andre Brown and his personification of the characters he played.

Tennessee Williams was born as Thomas Lanier Williams on March 26, 1911, in Columbus, Mississippi. He is the son of Cornelius Coffin Williams and Edwina Dakin Williams. As he grew up, he heard stories about the volunteer work of his father as well as the forty-five men his mother dated before she finally decided to settle down (Forman 1). His parents separated in 1909 before his older sister Rose was born. The separation was caused by Cornelius’ problems with womanizing, drinking, and gambling (Forman 3). His mother went to live at her father’s rectory in Columbus. He grew very fond of his grandparents, Reverend Walter Dakin and Rose Otte Dakin. Soon, Williams started to dread the days that his father would

The effects of cigarette smoking can be horrifying. Smoking is dangerous not only to those who smoke, but to non-smokers and unborn children as well. Cigarette smoking is also physically and socially harming.

One of the largest issues today is adolescent smoking. According to a heath based website, nearly 90% of adult smokers start while they are still teens and they never intend to get hooked. They may start by bumming a cigarette or two from a friend at a party, and then go on to buying an occasional pack. Soon they realize that they can't go without that pack. They've gotten used to reaching for a cigarette first thing in the morning, after meals, or during any stressful time. They become addicted, both physically and psychologically. According to the American Lung Association, each day 6,000 children under the age of 18 smoke their first cigarette. Almost 2,000 of them will become regular smokers – that’s 757, 000 new smokers annually!

The side of smoking that is rarely published will be explored in this paper. The side that only a smoker knows, not the side the governments and health agencies provide the news media with. This information is valuable because it is not very well exposed to the world. This essay will answer the question, “Why do you smoke cigarettes?”.

Cigarette smoking is something people all over the world have been doing for about 2000 years. Back in 2003, the first electronic cigarette was successfully created by a gentleman named Hon Lik. Lik was a 52 year old pharmacist at the time, whom of which was also a smoker. The inspiration behind making the electronic cigarette came after Lik’s father passed away from lung cancer due to him also being a heavy smoker. “A Historical Timeline of Electronic Cigarettes.” cassia.org. Consumer Advocates for Smoke Free Alternatives Association, 15 June 2017. The idea behind creating this device was to give smokers a way to still ingest nicotine, the most addictive chemical in tobacco cigarettes, without the countless negative health effects that