Tennessee Williams is celebrated as one of America’s greatest playwrights. Known for classics like A Streetcar Named Desire and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, he shaped 20th-century theater. However, long before his successes, he was just a budding writer named Tom, struggling to make a name for himself.
Recently, a previously unpublished radio play by Williams, titled The Strangers, surfaced in the literary magazine Strand. This work, a supernatural tale, provides a peek into the early style of Williams and the themes he would later explore in greater depth.
Andrew Gulli, the managing editor of Strand, describes the play as a significant find. He points out that it showcases elements of early radio horror—like storms, flickering candles, and mysterious footsteps—that hint at the isolation and fear present in Williams’s later works.
The Strangers didn’t reach Broadway; it was broadcast just once on a small Iowa radio station in 1938. The plot involves an elderly couple and their houseguest, dealing with strange occurrences during a stormy night. The eerie atmosphere keeps listeners questioning whether the apparitions they sense are real or figments of their imagination.
Tom Mitchell, a Williams biographer, emphasizes the importance of this play as it reflects Williams’s early experiments with storytelling. “It’s a fun, spooky tale,” he says, highlighting how it fits into the broader categories of ghost stories and psychological mysteries.
In a recent analysis, John Bak, a literature professor, notes that Williams was seeking work in the theater and radio at the time, but these early setbacks ultimately paved the way for his future success. He argues that The Strangers reveals not only Williams’s developing style but also the intense themes of fear and ambiguity that would permeate his later works.
Interestingly, this isn’t the first hidden gem of Williams’s found in recent years. In 2021, Gulli uncovered another unpublished piece at Harvard, a short story called The Summer Woman. By then, Williams enjoyed considerable acclaim, having penned several hallmark plays.
Williams’s journey from underdog to icon resonates with many today. He faced rejection before finding his voice, a reminder that perseverance can lead to greatness. As we rediscover works like The Strangers, we gain new insights into the mind of an artist who profoundly shaped American culture.
For further reading on Tennessee Williams’s life and works, you can visit the Tennessee Williams Literary Festival here.
