What is a good thesis statement for a research paper over the play Picnic by W. Inge?

Because you’re working at the level of a graduate student,
I would encourage you to develop a thesis statement that allows for the application of
one or more critical theories and for at least some historical contextualization. For
me, the 1953 play Picnic (and the 1955 film adaptation) captures
the emerging conflicts of the new generation coming of age in the 1950s who are bumping
up against traditions that they find constraining in innumerable ways. Many of these
traditions have to do with definitions of love and sexuality. Many people think of the
1960s as the decade of the youth counterculture, and that characterization may be
accurate in a general sense, but the 1950s are clearly marked by discontent by a
sizeable population who did not wish to follow the post-WWII model of the domesticated
housewife and the man in the gray flannel suit. Consider the Beat writers, the
Mattachine Society and Daughters of Bilitis (early gay/lesbian rights groups), the
writings of Betty Friedan, the 1950s obsessions with juvenile delinquency and the
corrupting influences of comic books, and so on. (I strongly recommend that you read
David Halberstam's The Fifties.) I would suggest that you focus on Hal’s intrusion into
the small town, the eroticism that he brings with him that challenges the established
order, particular in relation to Madge, whose future has been largely planned out for
her up to the point of Hal’s arrival.

Here’s an idea for a
first draft of a thesis statement: “W. Inge’s play Picnic is far
more than the tale of a how a single stranger can throw an entire small town into
confusion. It’s also a creative exploration of the forces of social discontent that
would transform American society in the coming decades.”