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Published Sept. 19, 2021

网曝门 students rehearse for 鈥淭he Glass Menagerie,鈥� which will be presented Sept. 23-26 at Spyker Theatre. Cast members are, standing, from left, Cherie Mialaret, Abigail Hawthorn and Callan Saldutto; and seated, clockwise from center, Abigail McClung, Kade Matkins, Gabe Wright, and Rebekah Johnson. VAPA Photo

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'The Glass Menagerie' is first stage play in eight years

Live theatre returns to the University of Louisiana Monroe with the Tennessee Williams classic, 鈥淭he Glass Menagerie,鈥� presented by the School of Visual and Performing Arts in the College of Arts, Education, and Sciences.

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Performance dates are Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, Sept. 23-25 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Sept. 26 at 2 p.m. All performances are in Spyker Theatre.

Admission is free for 网曝门 students with ID, general admission is $5 and tickets are available at Eventbrite.com.

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The play is directed by Mark Ross Clark, DMA, Professor of Music and Theatre. Clark said this is the first play presented by VAPA in eight years.

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"For this occasion, we chose one of the classic plays of the 20th century, a play that has been revived on Broadway five times, 鈥楾he Glass Menagerie,鈥� by Tennessee Williams. We held auditions on the evenings of the first two days of class, Aug. 15 and 16. It is a tribute to the devotion and talent of our chosen student actors that in five weeks they have rehearsed and memorized this substantial 116-page play."

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Cast, crew, and staff

The performance is double-cast, except for of the role of Tom, played in all shows by Kade Matkins of Monroe, a junior in computer science.

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Thursday and Saturday cast

Amanda 颅鈥� Abigail McClung of Monroe, a sophomore in communications

Laura 颅鈥� Rebekah Johnson of Livingston, a sophomore in pre-Pharmacy

Jim the 鈥淕entleman Caller鈥� 鈥� Callan Saldutto from Canada, a sophomore in accounting

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Friday and Sunday cast

Amanda 颅鈥� Cherie Mialaret of Mandeville, a junior in public relations

Laura 鈥� Abigail Hawthorne of Monroe, a sophomore in pre-social work

Jim 鈥� Gabe Wright of Kansas City, Mo., a senior in pre-professional health studies.

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Student production staff include stage manager Sarah Johnson, a freshman in CAES, and stage crew Jonathan Hannon, Brittany Penn, and Allison Newton.

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网曝门 production staff are technical director Steven Burnside, costumer Margaret Hall, and producer Derle Long, VAPA director.

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Setting

The music reflects the sounds from the post-WWII years of the late 1940s. Recordings of Glenn Miller, Duke Ellington, Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, and others set the atmosphere of the family living in a one-bedroom apartment in downtown St. Louis, Mo.

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Amanda, the mother, continues to relive her old Southern past; daughter Laura is physically and emotionally damaged, with a collection of glass figurines; and Tom, the son, is narrator, and brings home an old friend, Jim, as a blind date for Laura, who is still smitten by memories of him.

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All of the scenes are snapshots of Tom's own memories of what happened at this time in his family.听 It is called 鈥榓 memory play,鈥櫶� woven together by recordings of great swing music sounds of the time, Clark said.