The Glass Menagerie

Dear Tennessee,

First, I hope you will forgive my informality of address. Although I never had the honor of meeting you in person, I feel as if your writing has been a constant inspiration and a trusted companion. Many of my most treasured experiences as a director have been collaborating with your words to make theater, and an overwhelming number of my greatest experiences as a reader and as an audience member have been in engaging with your work.

I am writing to you because I am directing The Glass Menagerie. I am somewhat surprised that this is true because I have always been uncertain of this play. Perhaps it would be more truthful to say I have always been afraid of it and that my fear has made me unfairly dismissive. But my theater is celebrating its 10th anniversary season and I have taken a leap of faith, trusting that your play would guide me.

And it has.

I have always been mystified that a text of a play and a production of a text can differ so much, and that the history of a play can be overshadowed by a production. We theater artists have labored so long under the shadow of the monumental performances and theatrical legend of the original production of Menagerie that we have forgotten to read your play, your vision. We have ignored your wishes. We have taken a play that you say is not realistic and we have weighed it down with the very theatrical conventions you spent your career seeking to upend. We have distorted its spine by neglecting its structure. We have diluted its impact with sentimentality and familiarity.

Thank you for your guidance. I see now that my misapprehension about Menagerie comes not from the play as written but from the productions I have witnessed. By focusing on your production notes, stage directions and dialogue, I am delighted to find that Menagerie is a play about memory, about the way Tom takes memory, shapes memory and attempts to turn his life into art.

You would be amazed at the progress the theater has made toward achieving your dream of a new kind of production. Technology has made your call for a magic lantern an opportunity for state of the art video projections. And your demand that we not overburden your play with realism is no longer a danger to a play’s success. I think you would be delighted to see how brave and adventurous our audiences have become. Your work inspired generations of theater artists and audiences to make a bold new American theater.

Finally, I want to thank you for giving me the courage to experiment. Everything in my production seeks to find the best way to get the heart of the play you wrote and to honor the spirit of your production notes. I would never have embarked on this journey without your inspiration, your demand, your glorious play. All of us working on this production seek to honor your vision as we re-imagine Menagerie for Triad Stage.

With deep respect,

Preston Lane