Award-winning theater company Back Alley Productions will host auditions for its next show, Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie. Auditions will be held at the Mars Theatre, at 117 N. Chattanooga Street in LaFayette. The production is being directed by Kelsea Rambin-Smith.
The Glass Menagerie is a four-character memory play by Tennessee Williams that premiered in 1944 and catapulted Williams from obscurity to fame.
The play retells the faded and skewed recollections of a drifting young man named Tom Wingfield, set in St. Louis in 1937. He is an aspiring poet who toils in a shoe warehouse to support his domineering mother Amanda and his fragile and socially inept sister Laura. Mr. Wingfield, Tom and Laura’s father, ran off years ago and, except for one postcard, has not been heard from since.
"This will be my second time bringing the Wingfields to life." said Ms. Rambin-Smith, " I love Williams way of writing. The way everything is described makes it an easy translation to stage. I’m seeking local talent that can really bring this play to life."
The characters in the production include:
Amanda Wingfield, Laura and Tom’s mother. A proud, vivacious woman clinging to memories of a refined past.
Laura Wingfield, Amanda’s daughter and Tom’s older painfully shy sister. Laura has a bad leg, on which she has to wear a brace, and walks with a limp.
Tom Wingfield, Amanda’s son and Laura’s younger brother. An aspiring poet that’s frustrated by the drudgery of his job and escapes from it through movies and alcohol.
Jim O’Connor, an acquaintance of Tom who has an unwaveringly devotion to his personal success and who takes an interest in Laura.
Rehearsals for the performance will be Mondays, Tuesday and Thursdays from 6:30-8:30 p.m., including a tech week from Sept. 3 and 7. Performances are Friday and Saturday evenings at 8 p.m., with Sunday matinees at 3 p.m., from Sept. 8-16.
For more information, visit www.BAPshows.com or call 987-5028.