According to Brooks Atkinson, the major theater critic of the mid-century, Tennessee Williams' urban tragedy, A Streetcar Named Desire, was "a modern masterpiece" that "took Broadway by storm." Considered by many to be the finest drama of America's finest post-war playwright, A Streetcar Named Desire made an indelible impression on American culture. Under the muscular direction of Elia Kazan, the incendiary play, which won both the Pulitzer Prize and the Critics' Circle Award in 1947, was the follow-up to Williams' 1944 debut, The Glass Menagerie ; but whereas the earlier play was primarily a meditative memory piece, Streetcar is rife with activity. Its melodramatic structure, however, is never allowed to eclipse the emotional and atmospheric authenticity of the play. It is particularly revered for its multi-faceted characterizations; its rich dialogue, which is masterful in its lyricism as well as its use of working-class vernacular; and...