This Companion provides an original and authoritative survey of twentieth-century American drama studies, written by some of the best scholars and critics in the field.

• Balances consideration of canonical material with discussion of works by previously marginalized playwrights


• Includes studies of leading dramatists, such as Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, Eugene O'Neill and Gertrude Stein
  
• Allows readers to make new links between particular plays and playwrights
  
• Examines the movements that framed the...

A Streetcar Named Desire (1947) and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955) are major plays by Tennessee Williams, one of America's most significant dramatists. They both received landmark productions and are widely-studied and performed around the world. The plays have also inspired popular screen adaptations and have generated a body of important and lasting scholarship.
In this indispensable Reader's Guide, Thomas P. Adler:
charts the development of the criticism surrounding both works, from the mid-twentieth century through to the present day
provides a readable...