Glass Menagerie

Brunswick Little Theatre Auditions

CONTRIBUTED

Brunswick Little Theatre is holding open auditions for the classic Tennessee Williams play, “The Glass Menagerie.” The show will be directed by Victor Gallo and assistant director Pam McClure, and will run April 20-23 and 27-30 at the playhouse at 8068 River Road SE, Southport. The auditions will be held Sunday, Feb. 12, 12-2 pm, Wednesday, Feb. 15 , 7-9 pm at the theatre, and Monday, Feb. 13, 7-9 pm at the Hannah Block USO Building, 120 S. 2nd Street, Wilmington. If needed, call backs will be Thursday, Feb. 16 at 7 pm at the theatre.

Synopsis/Characters:

A memory play set in 1930s St. Louis, “The Glass Menagerie” is a metaphoric reference to the illusion and fragility of life, drawing strongly from the author’s life.

Amanda Wingfield (40+) was abandoned by her husband with two young children, who are now in their 20s. She escapes this reality by frequently reliving her youth as a southern belle besieged with gentlemen callers.

Tom Wingfield (20s), her son (acting as both narrator and character), is burdened by having to support the family working in a shoe factory. While yearning desperately to live his own life as a poet, he is haunted by following the example set by his father’s abandonment.

Laura Wingfield (20s), her daughter, has a limp due to a childhood disease and is painfully shy as a result, retreating into her own world of music and her glass animal collec tion. Yet Laura is the only family member not crippled by unmet and unrealistic expectations. She is simple, quiet, kind, and impossible to dislike.

Amanda is convinced the only solution to Laura’s problem is in finding a good husband and pesters Tom to bring home a gentleman caller.

Jim O’Connor (20s), Tom’s work friend, is the gentleman caller Tom invites to dinner. He is a nice young man who has not gone as far as he hoped yet has big plans for his future.

Amanda sees this dinner as Laura’s opportunity and prepares an elaborate meal. Laura is incapacitated by anxiety about meeting Jim. But in private moments after dinner, Jim is kind and engaging, and Laura begins to come out of her shell. After sharing a kiss, Jim apologizes to Laura and reveals he is engaged. The disappointment shatters Amanda’s dream, and – perhaps – Laura’s, too. Amanda turns on Tom, blaming him for bringing an engaged man, and they argue vehemently. As a result, Tom leaves to pursue his own dreams. He finds, however, that he is still shackled to his sister through his guilt, moving emptily from place to place.