Tennessee Williams' Timeless and Beloved Tale THE GLASS MENAGERIE Comes to Garden Theatre Stage

The Garden Theatre (160 W. Plant St.) is proud to present Beth Marshall Presents' production of Tennessee Williams' classic memory play, The Glass Menagerie, showing October 21 - November 6, 2016. The Glass Menagerie is sponsored by Outdoor Living Products and Toole's Ace Hardware.

Tennessee Williams, regarded as one of the greatest playwrights in American history, brought to life flawed and fascinating characters such as Blanche DuBois and Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire, Maggie and Brick in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and the characters of The Glass Menagerie, who provide a glimpse of a family desperately yearning for something better. Amanda Wingfield is a faded southern belle who lives in poverty with her restless son, Tom, and her painfully shy daughter, Laura, in St. Louis during the late 1930s. While Tom works in a factory and dreams of becoming a poet, his fragile sister seems unable to find her place. Believing that marriage will be the answer for Laura, Amanda pushes Tom into finding a male suitor for her. What begins as a promising evening soon unravels, and the fragile fantasy world the family had begun to build is irreparably cracked.

Equally fascinating to the characters and the stories that Tennessee Williams weaves is the fact that they so closely resembled the playwright's own family. The son of a shoe company executive, inspiration for Big Daddy in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and a southern belle, on whom Amanda Wingfield is based, he first began to write when he became unhappy with his life after his family moved from Mississippi to St. Louis, Missouri. His frustration with being removed from college where he was studying journalism and forced by his father to work as a sales clerk for a shoe company show remarkable similarities to Tom (Williams' real name) in The Glass Menagerie. Williams was also close to a sister, Rose, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia and eventually subjected to a lobotomy with poor results. In his notes to the play, the playwright described Laura, much like his own sister Rose, as like "a piece of her own glass collection, too exquisitely fragile to move from the shelf."

Beth Marshall Presents will produce, and Beth Marshall will also direct - having always been interested in tackling a Tennessee Williams work. "There is no playwright who is more timeless than Tennessee Williams," according to Marshall.

"We have chosen to do the staging of this production from the version of Williams' 'definitive text' which incorporates projection imagery to aid to the memory component of the play. Additionally, we are removing the realism of the use of most props and put the forefront of focus on the moments and interactions with the family through the eyes of Tom Wingfield, who is a poet making a meager living working in a warehouse," said Marshall.

"As artists, we often create our own realities," Marshall continued, "This is what Williams has done for each of the Wingfield characters: Amanda, Laura, Tom and the Father -- who we never see but is very present through some form of escapism, be it poetry, movies, alcohol, living in the past, or dreams of love and adventure. The gentleman caller, Jim, however, serves as the healthy dose of reality and forces them to live outside their escapisms. As a director, exploring the marriage of realness and escapism in a southern-style, Midwestern, dysfunctional yet poetic family drama is as wonderful to me as a magical glass unicorn is to Laura."

The four-person professional cast of The Glass Menagerie includes Anthony Pyatt Jr. as Tom (previous Garden Theatre role as Elder Thomas in Beth Marshall Presents' production of The Whale). Cami Miller* as Amanda, Anneliese Moon as Laura (previous Garden Theatre role as Adult Wendy in Peter Pan), and Zach Lane as Jim. *Member of Actors' Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers, appearing under a special agreement with Actors' Equity Association

The Glass Menagerie was Williams' first Broadway success, and received multiple awards when first brought to the stage in 1945. The play was also a 2014 Tony Award nominee for Best Revival of a Play.

Tickets are $28 for adults and $24 for seniors and students, with special pricing of $25 for adults and $21 for seniors and students for opening night and Thursday performances. Show times are Thursdays through Saturdays at 8pm and Sundays at 2pm. There will be one Industry Night performance on Monday, October 24 at 8pm with $15 tickets.

For tickets, visit gardentheatre.org or contact the Box Office at 407-877-GRDN (4736). Groups of 10 or more are eligible for discounts of up to 25% by contacting group sales manager Jana Goupil at 407-877-4736 x208.

This show contains complex themes and is suitable for most audiences.

About the Garden Theatre

Located in the heart of historic downtown Winter Garden on Plant Street, the Garden Theatre is a nonprofit organization committed to enriching, engaging and entertaining through creative experiences. The 299-seat theatre, which re-opened in 2008, is an historic, atmospheric, professional performing arts venue in a Mediterranean Revival style. The Garden Theatre hosts live plays, concerts, movies and more to the residents of and visitors to the city of Winter Garden. For tickets or additional information, contact the Garden Theatre Box Office at 407-877-GRDN (4736) or visit gardentheatre.org.

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