Metzger is a Ph.D. specializing in literature and drama at the University of New Mexico. In this essay, she discusses the manner in which Inge's play forecasted future trends in sexuality, particularly with regard to women in the entertainment world.

At the end of Picnic, Madge packs her bags and leaves town to follow Hal. But this was not the ending that Inge originally envisioned when he wrote the play. The playwright's initial view of love was much darker and not so easily reconciled, and he left Madge to continue much as she had before Hal's arrival—minus the security of her relationship with Alan. The 1953 stage director, Joshua Logan, wanted, and received, a happier ending, but Inge's original conclusion reappeared in a rewrite of Picnic, published in 1962 as Summer Brave. Inge's desire to portray young love as sexually charged and rebellious revealed an America hidden...