The Glass Menagerie

Types: Full-Length Play

Genre: Drama

*** All Ages are Relative ***

Amanda Wingfield – A faded Southern belle who grew up in Blue Mountain, Mississippi, abandoned by her husband, and who is trying to raise her two children under harsh financial conditions. Amanda yearns for the comforts of her youth and also longs for her children to have the same comforts, but her devotion to them has made her – as she admits at one point – almost “hateful” towards them.

Tom Wingfield – Amanda’s son. Tom works at a shoe warehouse to support his family but is frustrated by his job and aspires to be a poet. He struggles to write, all the while being sleep-deprived and irritable. Yet, he escapes from reality through nightly excursions to the movies. Tom feels both obligated toward yet burdened by his family and longs to escape.

Laura Wingfield – Amanda’s daughter and Tom’s elder sister. A childhood illness has left her with a limp, and she has a mental fragility and an inferiority complex that has isolated her from the outside world. She has created a world of her own symbolized by her collection of glass figurines. The unicorn may represent Laura because it is unique and fragile.

Jim O’Connor – An old high school acquaintance of Tom and Laura. Jim was a popular athlete and actor during his days at Soldan High School. Subsequent years have been less kind to Jim; by the time of the play’s action, he is working as a shipping clerk at the same shoe warehouse as Tom. His hope to shine again is conveyed by his study of public speaking, radio engineering, and ideas of self-improvement that appear related to those of Dale Carnegie.

Mr. Wingfield – Amanda’s absent husband, and Laura’s and Tom’s father. Mr. Wingfield was a handsome man, full of charm, who worked for a telephone company and eventually “fell in love with long-distance,” abandoning his family 16 years before the play’s action. Although he does not appear onstage, Mr. Wingfield is frequently referred to by Amanda, and his picture is prominently displayed in the Wingfields’ living room. This unseen character appears to incorporate elements of Williams’ father.

Kathleen Walker as Amanda Wingfield
John Wesley Leon as Tom Wingfield
Lauren Haynes as Laura Wingfield
Nathanial Vogel as Jim O’Conner

Director: Kami Martin
Stage Manager:  Angelica Garcia
Set Design / Construction:  Josh Somers
Sound and Lighting Design:  Jason A. Middle
Video Design:  Jason Strain
Costumes:  Kami Martin, Debradawn Shockey, and the Cast

I would like to thank you for coming to experience this beautiful play with us today.  The Glass Menagerie made an imprint on my heart as a young college student that I will never forget.  It began a decades-long love of dramaturgy, symbolism, autobiography, scene study, and acting in all things Tennessee Williams.  I still learn new things about this 80-year-old play today.

There is a reason why this play is one of the most revived plays in Broadway history.  This timeless story, at its core, is about love.  It will make you laugh and make you cry.  Tennessee’s most autobiographical play, The Glass Menagerie, included many production suggestions in its original text which were ahead of its time.  Many were eliminated from the first Broadway production because they were considered too risky, different, or even odd.  I have decided to keep these original devices of screen, lighting, and music.  I personally feel that is how Tennessee would have wanted it…like a dream where parts of it are so vivid and real, and yet others are faded, fuzzy, or nonrealistic.

I am sending much love to my cast and crew for their passion and dedication to this project, and to RHP for this great opportunity.  I hope that you enjoy our production and thank you for supporting the arts!