HOPE SMITH
editor-in-chief
hope.smith393@my.tccd.edu
Tennessee William’s 1930s era “The Glass Menagerie” is set to take the stage for SE Campus’ next theatre production. It will be available to watch from Feb. 28 to 29 at 7:30 p.m., and March 1 at 1:30 p.m.
This memory play, which is a story narrated by the main character’s memories and reflects the author’s own experiences in life. SE student Ethan Melendez, acting as the main character Tom Wingfield, saidys it is a translation of the author’s family dynamics.
“It’s a very sad story,” Melendez said. “Since it’s his life, it’s all based on his memory of what he experienced and what he saw in his point of view.”
The story is set in the Great Depression, and the cast explains that it centers around a displaced family trying to scrape by.
What makes the story interesting for the viewer might come from the main character’s struggles with his own individuality as a young man and the consequences of his own actions, as Angela Inman, play director and associate professor of drama said.
“It’s kind of a classic tale of anyone who is in their early 20s, who is just desperate to go out and live their own life,” she said. “And yet, they’re faced with the expectations of what their family thinks they should be.”
The characters of this story conflict, specifically Tom and his mother Amanda, portrayed by SE student Haleigh Ferguson.
Amanda is described as traditionally southern, with strong emotions but few dramatic qualities.
“She has a very old school mind,” Ferguson said. “Because it’s hard, especially as a woman in the 1930s to get by without a man or finding ways to make money.”
Melendez explained that the dynamic between Tom and Amanda highlight Tom’s struggle with wanting to be an individual and how their interactions drive home a theme for the story.
“In Tom’s eyes he really takes her as a helicopter mom,” he said. “That alone does a lot just about how the dynamic works on everything and how much he’s just tired of her always on to him about things and always trying to mother him and trying to tell him how things should work and how they shouldn’t work.”
There is symbolism riddled throughout the story with characters like Jim O’Connor, acted by SE student Joshua Gonzales, who counters Tom’s character as an opposite.
“He definitely plays a big role in essentially their lives as the main focus comes to head when he arrives,” Gonzalez said.
Inman explained that the play is typically thought of a serious play, however there is more to it that she hopes will be communicated to the audience come production.
“I think what we’ve worked to do is to find also the humor, because there’s a lot of humor in this play, and you don’t always read about that in the reviews, but it’s there,” she said.
