Home/Authors/Tennessee Williams/Series/William Inge's Plays
Cover for William Inge's Plays series
ongoing11 books
Photo of Tennessee Williams
By Tennessee Williams

William Inge's Plays

Showing 11 of 11 books in this series
Cover for Come Back, Little Sheba

William Inge's famous story of marital frustration which erupts in violence. Doc and Lola had an indiscreet affair, she became pregnant and, compelled to marry her, he gave up his medical studies, forfeited his future and settled down to a life of quiet desperation with the simple, homey Lola, who lost the child but has remained Doc's steadfast if slatternly wife. Now a chiropractor and recovering alcoholic, Doc's sobriety is tested when Marie, a young college student becomes their boarder bringing new life and long-dormant hostilities to the surface of Doc and Lola's troubled marriage.

Details
Cover for Picnic

“Inge reveals the powerful mysteries in our lives.”—Tennessee Williams Four plays by a quintessential twentieth-century playwright— Come Back, Little Sheba; Picnic, winner of the Pulitzer Prize; Bus Stop; and The Dark at the Top of the Stairs —with a foreword by the author. “This nice, well-bred next door neighbor, with the accent that belongs to no region except the region of good manners, has begun to uncover a world withing a world, and it is not the world that his welcome prepared you to meet, it's a secret world that exists behind the screen of neighborly decorum. And that's when and where you meet the talent of William Inge.” —Tennessee Williams “Inge has presented with astounding veracity the oppressive banality of the lives of his characters: the events of their lives have the nerve-tightening regularity of a dripping faucet. His female characters especially are engulfed by the bathos of their lives, and Inge capitalizes on this fact in order to heighten dramatically the moment of personal crisis which comes to each of them. In his four major successes— Come Back, Little Sheba; Picnic; Bus Stop; and The Dark at the Top of the Stairs —the play carries the audience through the moment of crisis; and the final curtain falls upon a note of hope and fulfillment.” —R. Baird Shuman

Details
Cover for A Loss of Roses

As told by "The setting.is a modest bungalow in a small town near Kansas City, and here lives Miss Field, a widow, and her twenty-one-year-old son.The time is 1933-the -and they are lucky to have jobs, she as a hospital nurse and he as a gas station attendant. The young man is petulant and demanding, and his mother is loving in a mournful way, for she wishes the boy were the man his late father was. Into the house moves a friend from long ago.a stranded tank-town actress. She finds sanctuary here in return for doing the cooking and housework; it is to be a temporary setup, just long enough for the actor she has consorted with to find another job for them in Kansas City ." The actress and the son become involved in a brief affair, and he proposes marriage, only to change his mind the following day. Heartsick, the actress returns to the life she loathes, and the son decides to strike out on his own.

Details
Cover for The Dark At The Top Of The Stairs(With: William Inge)

The Dark At The Top Of The Stairs is a play written by William Motter Inge. Set in the 1920s in a small town in Oklahoma, the play follows the lives of the Flood family. Rubin Flood is a traveling salesman who is struggling to make ends meet, while his wife Cora is dealing with her own personal demons. Their daughter Reenie is a young girl who is trying to navigate her way through adolescence, while their son Sonny is dealing with the challenges of being a teenage boy. The play explores themes of love, family, and the struggles of life in a small town. It also touches on issues of racism and prejudice, as well as the challenges of living in a society that is changing rapidly. With its complex characters and powerful themes, The Dark At The Top Of The Stairs is a thought-provoking and compelling play that continues to resonate with audiences today.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.

Details
Cover for Natural Affection

Originally presented at the Booth Theatre in New York City on January 31st, 1963 starring Kim Stanley, Harry Guardino & Tom Bosley.

Details
Cover for 4 Plays by William Inge: Come Back, Little Sheba, Picnic, Bus Stop, the Dark at the Top of the Stairs

A collection of 4 plays by one of the most important American playwrights of the mid-century era

Details
Cover for Where's Daddy?

As Richard Watts, Jr. comments, "Although Mr. Inge is fair and sympathetic to both sides, it would seem that he inclines slightly to the cause of the older generation. This, however, is one of the deftest touches in his treatment of the subject. For maturity, as it may be described at least technically, is represented by two unlikely prospects, a foolish, innocent and bewildered mother and a matronly bachelor unhampered by any illusions of masculinity. Yet how likeable both of them turn out to be! They are confronted by quite a problem, too. A boy, who happens to have been adopted by the bachelor, and a girl, who is the unworldly lady's daughter, have got themselves married and are about to have a child, and the thought alarms the young pair. The boy wants his freedom and the girl wants to prove her independence by giving it to him, and they have agreed to send the baby to an institution for adoption when it arrives. And it arrives unexpectedly, and amid great alarm...Mr. Inge is good-natured but he is also sharp and can be witty. Instead of getting in the way of the seriousness of his point of view, the humor emphasizes it...The foolishness of the girl's naive, mother is made honestly moving, the sentimental reconciliation of the boy and girl is believably touching, and the scenes of the peculiar bachelors are downright hilarious."

Details
Cover for Summer Brave - Acting Edition

The rewritten and final version of the romantic comedy "Picnic".

Details
Cover for Splendor in the Grass, The Play

F. Andrew Leslie, adapted from the screenplay by William Inge, Inge, William, Leslie, F. Andrew

Details
Cover for The Apartment Complex: Seven One-Act Plays
Details
Cover for Somewhere in America: Six One-Act Plays
Details