Tennessee Williams was one of America's major mid-20th century playwrights and his plays are among the most produced in the world. MTC has staged a number of his plays over the past 45 seasons, includingThe Glass Menagerie (1968), A Streetcar Named Desire (1973 and 2008), Vieux Carré (1984), Spring Storm (1999, world premiere) and Fugitive Kind (2003, professional world premiere). He is best known for his plays The Glass Menagerie (New York Drama Critics' Circle Award), A Streetcar Named Desire (Pulitzer Prize for Drama) and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Pulitzer Prize for Drama). Other works for stage include American Blues, Summer and Smoke, The Rose Tattoo(Tony Award for Best Play), Camino Real, Orpheus Descending,Suddenly Last Summer, Sweet Bird of Youth, Night of the Iguana,The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore, The Seven Descents of Myrtle, In the Bar of a Tokyo Hotel, The Two Character Playand The Eccentricities of a Nightingale. Williams also wrote short stories, novels, poetry, essays, screenplays and a volume of memoirs. In 1980, President Jimmy Carter honored Williams with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. This year, 2011, marks the centennial of his birth. He died in 1983.