Characters:

Chance Wayne

Princess Kosmonopolis: a fading actress, Alexandra del Lago

Heavenly Finley: Boss Finley’s daughter & Chance’s ex-girlfriend

Boss Finley: Heavenly’s father & a leading political figure in the town

Tom Finley Jr: Boss Finley’s son

Miss Lucy: Boss Finley’s mistress

Charles: a servant

Bud

Scotty: Heavenly’s fiance

Dan Hatcher: assistant manager of the hotel

The Heckler

Aunt Nonnie: Chance’s Aunt

George Scudder: the dr that operated on Heavenly

Fly: a waiter

Synopsis:

In the hotel room of Alexandria del Lago and Chance Wayne, George Scudder appears at the door. Chance tells him he is here to visit his mother and ex-girlfriend, Heavenly. George tells him his mother is dead and ex-girlfriend is engaged to marry him.  Alexandria wakes up and says she will sign travelers checks to him if he has sex with her. She signs the checks and Chance tells her his life story.  At Boss Finley’s house, he is mad that Chance returned because he gave Heavenly and STD that caused her to have a hysterectomy the last time he was here.  He and his son, Tom Jr., get Aunt Nonnie to try to make him leave town. Heavenly appears, blaming Boss Finley for Chance’s corruption.  He tells her if she does not appear in his tv rally, he will harm Chance. At the cocktail lounge, Miss Lucy says she will bring Heckler into the rally to reveal Heavenly’s past. Aunt Nonnie tells Chance to leave town, but he says life is not worth living without Heavenly. Chance runs into old aquaintances & Miss Lucy, who tells him about the rally and offers to take him to the airport.  Alexandria comes down and Chance tries to get her to go upstairs.  Heavenly & Finley come by and Chance finds out what happened to her from Tom Jr. Alexandria gets busted in on by Tom Jr and friends and she says she doesn’t know where Chance is. She tries to convince Chance to leave with her, but he says no.  As Alexandria leaves, Tom Jr and his friends come for Chance.

Characters:

Lady Torrance: wife of Jade, an old sick man

Valentine Xavier: nomadic singer & musician

Jabe Torrance: Lady Torrance’s husband

Carole Cutrere: Sister of David

David Cutrere: Carole’s brother

Sheriff Talbot

Vee Talbot: Sheriff’s wife

Uncle Pleasant: conjure man, black

Beulah Binnings: gossipy townswoman

Pee Wee Binnings: Beulah’s husband

Dog Hamma: friend of Pee Wee’s

Dolly Hamma: wife of Dog, friend of Beulah

Nurse Porter: Jabe’s nurse

Eva & Sister Temple: elderly sisters who are nosey

Summary:

Dolly & Beulah tell us that Jabe  has just had surgery & is dying. He basically bought his wife Lady after she had her heart broken. Carol comes in & a little later Val comes in, a stranger. She hits on him & he is uninterested. Lady agrees to hire Val as a clerk. Val explains his sorted past in New Orleans to Lady. David comes to pick up Carol & Lady tells him she aborted his child. Val & Vee are talking about her painting & Vee’s husband catches him kissing her hand.  Lady allows Val to stay at the store & he steals money.  He puts it back & wants to leave, but Lady begs him to say.  On Easter, Jabe tells Lady he was responsible for her father’s death.  Vee falls talking about Jesus & Val  is caught helping her up. Vee’s husband, Sheriff Talbot, tells him he has until sunrise to get out of town. Val is ready to leave & Lady tries to stop him. She tries to get the nurse to kill her husband, but she will not.  Then she tells Val she is pregnant & the baby is his. Jabe shoots Lady & says Val did it. Lady dies & the townsfolk burn Val to death.

Maggie: Brick’s wife and Big Daddy’s daughter

Brick: Maggie’s husband

Big Daddy: Maggie’s dad

Big Mama: Maggie’s mom

Mae: Maggie’s sister-in-law

Gooper: Maggie’s brother

Reverand Tooker

Doctor Baugh

Summary:

Brick and Maggie are in the bedroom discussing who will get the estate now that Big Daddy is dying.  Maggie is concerned because they are childless and Brick is an alcoholic who hates her.  Daddy asks Brick about his drinking and he can’t explain.  Eventually, he says he  has not gotten the click in his head that makes him feel peaceful. Daddy asks Brick if his relationship with Skipper was more than friendship (ie if they are gay lovers). The family gathers and tells Mama of Daddy’s cancer. She calls for Brick and asks Maggie to straighten him out.  Gooper and Mae are pissed that Mama won’t sign the will they wrote.  Maggie announces she is pregnant.  She locks up Brick’s liquor bottles and refuses to give them back until he’s sated her.  She declares her love for him and he doesn’t care.

Serafina delle Rose: local seamstress

Rosa delle Rose: Sarafina’s daughter

Alvaro Magiacavallo: trucker & later, Serafina’s lover

Father de Leo: priest

Jack Hunter: The boy Rosa is in love with

Estelle Hohengarden: Serafina’s late husbands lover

Assunta: wise old woman

Bessie & Flora: townwomen who gave Serafina work

The Strega: crazy lady who lives next door

Children

Gossipy townswomen

Summary:

Serafina is a seamstress and has a 12 year old daughter names Rosa.  She brags about her husband to a woman, Estelle, who is having an affair with him, which Serafina is unaware of.  Her husband dies and she is devastated.  3 years later, Rosa is graduating and Serafina has locked up her clothes so she won’t go off with a boy she has been showing interest in.  While Serafina is getting ready, 2 women tell her that her husband had an affair.  Rosa comes back with the boy she likes, Jack, and insists Serafina meets him.  Serafina makes him swear before the virgin Mary he will not violate Rosa.  Rosa & her friends leave for the graduation party. Alvaro, a trucker arrives and gets beaten up. Serafina takes him in and repairs his jacket.  They confirm the affair and Alvaro and Sarafina sleep together. Jack and Rosa return home and agree to meet before he sails out. Rosa discovers Alvaro,and in the end, Alvaro & Serafina speak lovingly to each other.

Characters:

Amanda Wingfield: Laura & Tom’s mother

Laura Wingfield: Amanda’s daughter who has a bad leg on which she must wear a brace

Tom Wingfield: Amanda’s son

Jim O’Connor: an old friend of Tom & Laura’s

Tom Wingfield is an aspiring poet who works in a shoe warehouse to support his sister, Laura, and mother, Amanada. Tom finds his escape in alcohol, but tells his family he is going to the movies. Amanda is upset that Laura has no suitors and is doing everything she can to make her more attractive. In an argument, Tom breaks some of Laura’s most prized possessions, her glass figures. Later, Tom brings home Jim from work for Laura. Jim and Laura have a good time once Laura comes out of her shell, but it turns out he is engaged. After Jim leaves, Amanda blames Tom for the situation.  Not long after, Tom leaves Amanda and Laura.

Characters:

Nina Leeds -daughter of Professor Leeds

Edmund Darrell -a doctor from the hospital & eventually Nina’s lover & father of her son

Sam Evans -friend of Darrell’s and eventually Nina’s husband

Gordon Evans -Nina & Darrell’s son

Professor Leeds -Nina’s widower father

Charles Marsden -friend of Mr Leeds and Nina

Madeline Arnold -Gordon’s fiance

Mrs. Evans -Sam’s mother

Professor Leeds and Marsden talk about his daughter, Nina, because she is still living in grief over her boyfriend’s death.  Nina decides to go work as a nurse in a sanitorium for wounded soldiers.

One year later, Leeds has died and Nina returns with Evans and Darrell. Darrell tells Marsden that Nina has been sleeping with the wounded soldiers and she should marry Evans. Marsden, who is in love with Nina, gets her to marry Evans.

Seven months later, Evans is trying to write, but is unsuccessful. Because Evans’ mother had convinced her to abort Evan’s baby for fear of mental illness, her and Darrell agree to have a baby and pretend it’s Evans’.

Five months later (April 1922), Darrell and Nina are in love and Evans is doing poorly. Nina wants to divorce Evans for Darrell, but Darrell says no and leaves for Europe. Nina is pregnant.

Over a year later, Evans is doing well and Darrell comes back.  Nina is happy with her son and won’t leave Evans when Darrell asks her to come away with him. 

In 1934, Gordon, Nina and Evans’ son, is having his 11th birthday party. Nina begs Darrell to go away for two years and Gordon sees them kiss goodbye.

Ten years later, Gordon is competing in a crew race and is engaged. Nina wants to prevent the wedding, but Darrell stops her. Evans has a stroke. 

Several months later, Evans has died. after Gordon leaves, Darrell asks Nina to marry him, but she says no. Instead, she asks Marsden to marry her and he says yes.

Characters:

Ephraim Cabot -father of Simeon, Peter, & Eben

Simeon – Ephriam’s son

Peter – Ephriam’s son

Eben – Ephriam’s youngest son who has taken over the maternal role since his mother’s death

Abbie Putnam -Ephriam’s new wife and eventually Eben’s lover

Widower Ephraim Cabot abandons his New England farm to his three sons who hate him, but share his greed. Eben, the youngest and brightest sibling, feels the farm is his birthright, as it originally belonged to his mother.  He buys the farm from his half-brothers with money stolen from his father, and Simeon & Peter, his brothers, head off to California to find gold. Later, Ephraim returns to his new wife, Abbie, who enters into an affair with Eben. She then bears Eben’s child, but convinces Ephriam that it is his in hopes of securing the farm. Afraid the child will ruin her relationship with Eben, she kills it. Eben turns her in to the sheriff, but is so in love he ends up confessing to a part in the murder.

Characters:

Edmund Tyrone: youngest son

James Tyron: father

Jamie Tyrone: eldest son

Mary Tyrone: mother

Mary (mom) has just come home from the sanitarium where she was being treated for a morphine addiction. Edmund has begun to cough violently & we later discover he has tb. As the play continues on, we find out Mary is still addicted to morphine.  Between these revelations, the family revisits old fights and opens old wounds from the past. For example, Tyrone’s stinginess being the blamed for Mary’s morphine addiction when he refused to pay for a good Dr. to treat the pain caused by childbirth. They all argue over Jamie & Edmund’s failure to become as successful as Tyrone wanted.