“Williams was very dedicated as a poet,” said Allean Hale, adjunct professor of theater at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, who has written extensively about Williams’ early years. As a young man, “He actually thought of himself primarily as a poet, rather than as a playwright, until he began working with the Mummers of St. Louis, a local theatre group that produced Williams’ “Headlines” in 1936, followed by “Candles to the Sun” and “Fugitive Kind” in 1937.