There are plays in an actor's journey that they circle around – sometimes mindfully, at other times with seeming oblivion. Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie radiates a brilliance that keeps drawing the actor in, much like a moth attracted to the glow of an exposed bulb.
The playwright indicates that the setting for The Glass Menagerie is "Now and the Past." Interestingly, this also describes Company of Fools' history with the play. The Company first performed The Glass Menagerie in 1995 at the Barksdale Theatre in Richmond, VA. At that time, two Core Company Artists were involved in the production – John Glenn (as Barksdale Theatre's Artistic Director) and myself (portraying the character of Laura Wingfield). Fifteen years later we are sharing this hauntingly beautiful piece of theatre with you in the Wood River Valley.
As we reapproached this great American masterpiece, we were struck once again by the tremulous, tragic beauty of these four characters. This is a play of characters connected to each other as one strains to pull away. When the play was first produced in 1944 it was hailed as revolutionary – stunning in its honesty and tragic beauty. As we revisit this piece in 2010 we are once again struck by its simple honesty and its great story telling. We are allowed to reflect on a family bound together by love and the constraints that sometimes fosters. Ultimately, The Glass Menagerie is a story simply told of the human heart in all its glory and all its muck. In witnessing this story, we are allowed to reflect on the fragile, glass-like threads that connect us all.
We'll see you at the theatre.
Denise Simone, Director |
