The Case of the Crushed Petunias
The Case of the Crushed Petunias is a one-act play by Tennessee Williams ()[].
Contents
The original text
The play tells of Miss Dorothy Simple, proprietor of the Simple Notions Shop in Primanproper, Massachusetts, who has barricaded her house and heart behind a double row of petunias. Today, however, she has woken up to find every single petunia crushed by the footprints of a size-eleven-D shoe. When the perpetrator, a Young Man, arrives to confess his crime, he comes on a mission to alert Miss Dorothy to the "miraculous accident of being alive." Armed with poetry, seeds for wild roses, and a business card from "Life, Incorporated," the Young Man endeavors to convince Miss Dorothy of the tremendous inspiration that lies beyond what one can buy or sell in a shop with four walls.
The play premiered at the Karamu Theatre in Cleveland, Ohio in February 1957 under the direction of Reuben Silver.
Published by Concord Theatricals on 2011 as part of the collection The Magic Tower and Other One-Act Plays, edited by Thomas Keith, with a Forword by Terrence McNally.
Translations and adaptations
Performance history in South Africa
Sources
https://www.concordtheatricals.com/p/8565/the-case-of-the-crushed-petunias
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