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greatest playwrights of the 20th century 

has a play out there that's never before been staged? That's what I was wondering when I called Peter Hansen at 

, with a more than slightly skeptical tone in my voice.

It turns out there are a lot of works by Tennessee Williams that have never been performed, and many of them never will. Williams wrote the way some artists sketch - profusely, with many rough drafts. A lot of what remains (he gave his collected writings to 

But there was at least one little gem among them. It's a short (35 minutes!) play, which is one of the main reasons it never got staged. According to Hansen it's believed to be an early version of "

," but a lot changed between the two versions.

So how do you get people to come see a 35 minute show? Hansen says Gremlin Theatre is treating the June run as a sort of "summer social." People can come and play croquet or toss bean bags in the theater before the show while enjoying a drink and some food, and then they're invited to hang out with the actors and crew afterward at a restaurant around the corner.

Marianne Combs

Author

How is it that one of America's greatest playwrights of the 20th century has a play out there that's never before been staged?

Tennessee Williams’ play to make its world premiere in St. Paul

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