William Inge is America’s most famous forgotten playwright. Maybe Inge’s contemporaries overshadowed his simplicity and realism. At the time of Picnic’s publicationin 1953, Tennessee Williams was exploring the boundaries of sexuality in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Arthur Miller was chronicling jealousy and tragedy in A View from the Bridge while Eugene O’Neil’s posthumous autobiographical masterpiece, Long Day’s Journey Into Night, was published the same year Picnic premiered on Broadway.
In recent years Inge’s work has enjoyed a resurrection of sorts, most notably the play's successful Broadway revival in 2013. What has brought about this renewed love for Inge? Perhaps we've become bored of special effects and fantastical story lines. Maybe what we're missing in the theatre is simplicity at its finest. Inge’s characters don't speak in poetic prose or fly about the stage on aircraft cable. None of his characters are particularly wealthy or influential and their problems don't include saving the world or fighting evil doers; no, these characters aren't all that different from you or I and that's what makes them extraordinary.
In Picnic we see ourselves; we see our misgivings, our desires and our eternal hope and eventual disappointment become manifest on stage. Epic transformations of heart and mind take place using only the artistry of the actor and the simplicity of Inge’s language.
While we yearn for simplicity, Inge provides a challenge in Picnic: life isn't simple, thus, life on the stage isn't simple either. Madge, Hal and Alan (among others) are victims of their assumed simplicity; on the surface they appear stereotypical. Madge, a beautiful young girl. Alan, a polite young man. Hal, an attractive drifter. Each yearns to be free of their superficial trappings, free to become someone else. It is through these characters and their journeys that we find Inge’s theatrical spectacle.
On stage for you this evening, we hope we've created the simplicity of Inge’s realism and the spectacle of living in a small town. And we hope you see yourselves on stage. Maybe you'll see someone you once were, maybe you'll see someone you will become, or maybe you'll see someone you knew in another life. Either way, you'll see William Inge in every moment and hopefully he’ll regain a small amount of the acclaim he deserves.
With love,
-Leah
