“The Glass Menagerie” ©1944
The Glass Menagerie was the first major success by playwright Tennessee Williams, first produced in 1944. It’s based on an earlier short story by Williams (published a few years later).
It is a reminiscence by amateur poet Thomas Wingfield (think “playwright Thomas Williams”) about the struggles of his southern-belle mother, his handicapped and introverted sister, and his own frustrations trapped in a life he hates, following their abandonment by their husband and father. The title refers to the sister’s collection of glass animal figurines.
Williams adapted it into a screenplay for MGM, but apparently they didn’t produce it. It was instead adapted in 1950 into a film with an upbeat Hollywood ending, which Williams hated.
The play should have entered the Public Domain at the end of 2001.