The Glass Menagerie-Key West Players/Waterfront Playhouse

The play is the story of the Wingfields, a family struggling through the depression era in St. Louis. They are held together with fierce devotion by the family matriarch, Amanda Wingfield, who has been abandoned by her husband. While she romanticizes her genteel past in Blue Mountain, Mississippi, she strives to prepare her children for an uncertain future. Her son Tom is the narrator of the story. He is a restless poet, yearning for escape and artistic fulfillment. Laura, her fragile daughter, dwells in an imaginative world of old phonograph records left by her father and her menagerie of tiny glass animals. Into this atmosphere comes a gentleman caller for Laura, who brings a brief respite of hope.

Tennessee Williams first came to Key West in 1941, and
eventually became one of the City's most famous residents. He thought of
Key West as an escape from the turmoil and cruelty of the Broadway
theatre world. He felt comfortable in the live-and-let-live atmosphere of
Key West, spending long swaths of time in his Duncan Street home. His
creative output was enormous, with The Glass Menagerie, A Streetcar Named Desire, Summer and Smoke and Cat On A Hot Tin Roof being among the most acclaimed dramas ever written. He was the recipient of many awards, including two Pulitzers.

Joy Hawkins has been synonymous with The Red Barn Theatre
for its 26 years of existence. She has been a major force in local
theatre, bringing to the Barn the savvy and expertise she garnered from her years on Broadway, in regional theatre and in television. Along with
Mimi and Gary McDonald, they have worked to make the Barn one of the most respected small theatres in the country. She has directed and performed on all the stages of Key West, as well as performing all over the
country, including playing Amanda in Menagerie at the J. Howard Wood theatre in Ft. Meyers, FL.

Alexandra Newell (Laura) is a graduate of Key West High
School where she played Kim in the Key Kid's production of Bye, Bye
Birdie. She got her degree in theatre at Emory College in Atlanta. There
she performed in such works as Ah, Wilderness! and Three Days of Rain.
Rock Solomon (Tom) is a promising filmmaker, with his own company Red
Light Studio. He is the recent recipient of the prestigious South Florida
Cultural Consortium Fellowship for Visual and Media Artists. He was
seen in last season's Sordid Lives at The Red Barn and in The Odd Couple,
the Female Version at the Waterfront. Scott Wilson (the Gentleman
Caller) was recently seen in the smash-hit Naked Boys Singing! at the
Waterfront Playhouse. He is from Atlanta, where he first performed in NBS!, as well as Assassins and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
He has also performed with Citydance  and with Royal Caribbean and
Holland America Cruises.

The production will be directed by Danny Weathers, who
recently directed Lettice and Lovage at the Waterfront with Claire
Carroll and Joan O'Dowd. Last year he directed Equus and The Tale of the
Allergist's Wife, as well as performing in The Bible, the Complete Word of
God, abridged. The set will be created by the Key West Player's
technical director, Michael Boyer, who has been responsible for some of the most beautiful and professional sets in local theatre. The evocative
lighting will be designed by Kim Hanson, a professional lighting designer
from New York that the Players are importing for this project. Mr. Boyer
and Mr. Hanson created the sets and lighting respectively for Joyce
Stahl's incredible production of The Nutcracker. Costumes will be designed
by Kathleen O'Neal, who also created the costumes for Lettice and
Lovage.  

Performances for The Glass Menagerie will run May 3 until May 27 with performances Wednesday through Saturday each week at 8:30 pm. Opening night will feature a post-show gala reception sponsored through the generosity of Joe Liszka and Frank Romano and catered by Great Events. Tickets for opening night are $35 and may only be purchased through the box office. Tickets for all other performances are $30 and may be purchased online at:

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