In an article in USA Today, theatrical agent Tom Erhardt, who licenses Williams' works, said that he is currently in the process of selling the rights to a production of A Streetcar Named Desire, which may arrive on Broadway next year. Erhardt also added that he has just sold the rights to The Glass Menagerie, "which will probably be done in 2005." He also told the daily paper, "I'm also selling Period of Adjustment and contracting for Sweet Bird of Youth. It's a very, very active time." Born Thomas Lanier Williams on March 26, 1911, Tennessee Williams became one of the most respected playwrights in American theatre history. His first bona fide Broadway success was the 1945 premiere of The Glass Menagerie. Two years later his production of A Streetcar Named Desire earned the young playwright both the Pulitzer Prize and the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award. Among his many other works are The Rose Tattoo, Camino Real, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Sweet Bird of Youth, Night of the Iguana, Orpheus Descending, Not About Nightingales and Suddenly, Last Summer. Williams died August 13, 1983.

In related news: A Streetcar Named Desire will open the upcoming Kennedy Center festival Tennessee Williams Explored, playing April 27-May 16, 2004, at the Center's Eisenhower Theater. Garry Hynes, the first woman to receive a Best Director of a Play Tony Award (for her work on The Beauty Queen of Leenane), will helm the production about the fragile Blanche DuBois and her tragic downfall. Tickets for Tennessee Williams Explored will go on sale Feb. 7. For more information, visit www.kennedy-center.org.