Press Release

 

TRIAD STAGE LAUNCHES 10th ANNIVERSARY SEASON WITH TENNESSEE WILLIAMS' THE GLASS MENAGERIE

Greensboro regional theater presents the classic masterpiece with a bold, new look, September 5 – 26, 2010

(Greensboro, NC) —Triad Stage opens its 10th Anniversary season with The Glass Menagerie. Memories as fragile as glass are tossed into the air in Tennessee Williams’ first great masterpiece, directed by Preston Lane. Dreams meet reality and love becomes desperate in a shimmering drama of a family on the edge. Tom struggles in a modern day world while his mother holds tight to a fantasy of Southern gentility and his sister hides amongst the glistening crystalline creatures she collects. With an edge as sharp as broken glass, the play cuts deep into the longing of human hearts. The Glass Menagerie runs September 5 through September 26, 2010.  Opening Night is September 10, 2010.  The production is sponsored by Lincoln Financial Foundation, with support from Well•Spring; Bernard Robinson & Company, LLP; and STARworks NC.

With a number of plays in Williams’ body of work he’s yet to direct, Lane describes why he chose The Glass Menagerie.“I wanted to direct it so that I could find the play that Williams wrote, the script he meant to present onstage, rather than the production audiences are used to seeing. I think this stunning drama about the way we can turn pain and family turmoil into art is so quintessentially Williams and so very much about the way art is created that it deserves to be liberated from tired theatrical conventions. Working with a daring group of designers and actors, I’m thrilled to have the chance to honor Williams’ command that the play exist in a world of memory and to restore the character of Tom to his rightful place as the artist who makes memory into drama in front of our eyes.”

Triad Stage audiences will find the set of The Glass Menagerie particularly interesting. In his production notes, Williams explains, “The Glass Menagerie can be presented with unusual freedom of convention…When a play employs unconventional techniques, it is not, or certainly shouldn’t be, trying to escape its responsibility of dealing with reality, or interpreting experience, but is actually or should be attempting to find a close approach, a more penetrating and vivid expression of things as they are…” Scenic designer Anya Klepikov explored Williams’ directions and finally “exploded the idea of glass, and the Wingfields’ entire universe became a giant glass installation. They live on a glass island, and the glass menagerie is suspended in mid-air like a fantastic canopy above their heads.” The original concept of projections in Williams’ script also comes to Triad Stage in a new way. Klepikov states, “Throughout the play, Tom wields a camera like a memory wand, filming his fellow characters and projecting their images live on the back wall of the theater, walking the audience through the emotional landscape of his memory, which is this play.”

In order to create the set’s glass installations, Triad Stage has partnered with The Glass Lab and STARworks located in Star, North Carolina. Klepikov commissioned these local artists to create fifty three unique amorphous glass animals, each somewhat larger than a human head, to become the menagerie itself. STARworks Glass Studio Outreach Coordinator Nickolaus Fruin is working closely with Lane and Klepikov to develop both the menagerie and other pieces for The Glass Menagerie. Fruin says, “The experience has been great because the design team has given us great direction while still allowing us to be very creative in our approach.  As glass artists, we know how to draw upon the many inherent properties of glass to achieve the intricate design of the show.”

For Triad Stage’s production of The Glass Menagerie, Lane has assembled a cast of talents from New York and the Triad area. The four-member cast includes: Kate Goehring as Amanda Wingfield, the Mother, Cheryl Koski as Laura Wingfield, her Daughter, Matthew Carlson as Tom Wingfield, her Son and Tyler Hollinger as Jim O’Connor, the Gentleman Caller. Goehring was seen on Triad Stage’s MainStage in The Little Foxes (2007) and The Blonde, the Brunette and the Vengeful Redhead (2009). Koski, an Acting student at UNC Greensboro, and Carlson were both seen in 2009’s Picnic. This is Hollinger’s Triad Stage debut.

The creative team includes: scenic designer Anya Klepikov, costume designer Kelsey Hunt, lighting designer Norman Coates, sound designer David E. Smith and projections designer Nicholas Hussong. The dramaturg is Drew Barker, the vocal director is Christine Morris, the fight director is Jim Wren and the movement director is Denise Gabriel. Cindi Rush is the casting director and the stage manager is Chris “Waffles” Wathen.

Biographies for the cast and creative team, and more information on the production can be found online at www.triadstage.org.

 

Performance and special event information
Tickets for Preview performances of The Glass Menagerie, on September 5, 7, 8 and 9 are all $18 each. From Opening Night, September 10, single ticket prices range from $10 to $42. Prices vary depending on the day of the week and seat location desired.

All performances are at Triad Stage at The Pyrle Theater, located at 232 South Elm Street in downtown Greensboro, North Carolina (between Market and Washington Streets).

Discount rates are available for groups of 10 or more. Group tickets can be purchased by calling Sherry Barr, Director of Audience Services at 336.274.0067 ext. 221 or emailing groupsales@triadstage.org.

Show times for The Glass Menagerie are 7:30 pm on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday evenings and 8:00 pm on Friday and Saturday evenings. Sunday matinees are at 2:00 pm. There are no matinee performances during previews. Wine Tasting Friday is September 17, prior to the evening’s 8:00 pm performance, with wines provided by Juice Wine Purveyors. A Sign-Interpreted performance is on Tuesday, September 21, at 7:30 pm, with services provided by the Greensboro Communication Services for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.

Technically Talking,a behind-the-scenes discussion with members of the design team is Tuesday, September 7, immediately following the 7:30 pm preview performance, and is sponsored by Lomax Construction. The InSight Series, the free humanities program that brings a noted speaker to the Triad to discuss the world of the play and its subject matter, will be held on Sunday, September 12, immediately following the 2:00 pm matinee performance. PostScript, a lively, open discussion with members of the cast, will be held on Thursday, September 16 in Triad Stage’s UpStage Cabaret, immediately following the 7:30 pm performance.

 

About Triad Stage
Triad Stage is a professional not-for-profit regional theater company based in Greensboro’s downtown historic district. All Triad Stage productions are created in Greensboro using the best of local and national talent. Triad Stage gratefully acknowledges the support of its Season Sponsors: Mitre Agency, the North Carolina Arts Council and the United Arts Council of Greater Greensboro. The starring sponsor for The Glass Menagerie is the Lincoln Financial Foundation.

Triad Stage’s 2010-2011 MainStage Season, its tenth, continues with Willy Russell’s English comedy, Educating Rita (October 17 – November 7, 2010); Cormac McCarthy’s modern drama, The Sunset Limited (February 13 – March 6, 2011); Robert Harling’s Southern treasure, Steel Magnolias (April 10 – May 1, 2011) and Preston Lane’s world premiere adaptation of Ludvig Holberg’s dress up farce, Masquerade (June 5 – 26, 2011). The season includes Lane’s adaptation of Charles Dickens’ holiday classic, A Christmas Carol (November 26 – December 24, 2010). Season Passes and single tickets are on sale now.

All Triad Stage productions feature the bold acting and breathtaking design that have been nationally recognized by The Wall Street Journal and haveearned the theater accolades including “One of the Best Regional Theatres in America”, New York’s Drama League; “Best Live Theater”, Go Triad/News & Record and The Rhinoceros Times; and “Professional Theater of the Year”, North Carolina Theatre Conference. 

To purchase tickets or for performance information on The Glass Menagerie, call the Triad Stage Box Office at 336.272.0160 or toll-free at 866.579.TIXX (8499), or visit www.triadstage.org.

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