Tennessee Williams, a major twentieth-century U.S. playwright, was born Thomas Lanier Williams on March 26, 1911, in Columbus, Mississippi. Williams began writing as a child, publishing in junior high and high school publications. He continued publishing as he pursued his bachelor's degree, which he did leisurely, attending three different undergraduate institutions between 1929 and 1938. He decided to focus his creative energies primarily on drama during this period, although he wrote poetry, short stories, and novels throughout his life.

In 1939, Williams sent a set of one-act plays as a competition entry to the Group Theatre in New York, which was run by prominent members of the New York drama scene. They were impressed, awarded him prize money, and invited him to move to New York with the promise that they would help him further his career. The experience and contacts Williams gained in New York proved to be invaluable...