Focus On "The Glass Menagerie"

Marshall University's latest show (which opens on Wednesday) is a theatre classic - and you can learn more about it in this story in the Herald-Dispatch by Beth Hendricks:

Send the kids to High School Musical 3 and do a little high school reminiscing of your own with the Marshall University Theatre Department this week.

Under the direction of Jack Cirillo, theater students will present The Glass Menagerie, a well-known high school English class staple, at 8 p.m. nightly Nov. 19-22 at the Joan C. Edwards Performing Arts Center. The selection is the department's annual "Denman Classic," named in honor of retired Marshall Provost, Dr. Sarah Denman, an avid theater supporter.

"When she announced her retirement, we were disappointed because it meant she wouldn't be a part of our day-to-day, week-to-week lives. She was a tremendous supporter of the arts when she worked here," Cirillo said. "So, we decided to honor her with one selection every year."

The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams, his self-described "memory play," has been considered a theater classic since its debut. The play centers on Tom Wingfield as he reminisces about his childhood living with his domineering mother Amanda and handicapped sister Laura. From high school days, audience members might remember Laura's nickname "Blue Roses," from a bout of pleurosis, Amanda's attempt to find an appropriate suitor for her daughter and the glass figurines that play a symbolic role in the tale.

"This was considered Williams' first great success," Cirillo said. "It's somewhat autobiographical and it deals with something most of us are familiar with - family dysfunctions."

For Cirillo, it is a return back to a play he performed as a student himself, but had never directed. It utilizes a small cast - only four members - and presents a teaching opportunity that most works do not.

"I wanted a small cast that I could work very closely with and really roll up my sleeves and get involved," he said. "I did this in college myself ... and there are parts of it that, as we've gone through it, became very familiar to me again. I had a pretty good sense of what I wanted to do with it and I knew I had the actors necessary to make it alive."

For tickets, call 304-696-2787.