CONWAY — The Community Arts Association of Conway and The Lantern Theatre will present The Glass Menagerie, by Tennessee Williams, in four performances.
Directed by Shua Miller, the show will be at 7:30 p.m. Saturday and Aug. 31 and at
2:30 p.m. Aug. 25 and Sept. 1 in the Parish Hall of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, 925 Mitchell St. The doors will open 30 minutes before curtain time.
Online tickets are $15 for adults and $12 for children; tickets at the door will be $20 and $17, respectively. Tickets are available at thelanterntheatre.com.
This production is rated PG-13.
“This is a classic play that has been touching American audiences for decades,” said Miller, longtime supporter of the local theater troupe and box-office manager of the Donald W. Reynolds Performance Hall at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway. “This is a play that some may consider a ‘long lost play,’ … and that’s exactly why we are doing it. It’s one of those plays that you think you’ve heard of but are not sure, so you have to see it again.”
The Glass Menagerie premiered in 1944 in Chicago and moved to Broadway in 1945, winning the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award that year. It was Williams’ first successful play and has had several Broadway revivals and been adapted for film, radio and TV.
Miller said the most recent Broadway version in 2017 starred Sally Field as the mother, Amanda Wingfield.
“It’s a hard play to produce,” Miller said. “There are many layers to the play. It’s timeless. … The themes are still applicable today. It’s about people accepting reality and facing their obligations. … It’s about dreams, hopes and plans. … It’s about family. These are universal themes. … They are still relevant today.”
Miller said this is a “memory” play about the Wingfield family.
“It opens with the son, Tom, explaining to the audience that this play is his memory of his family … how his father abandoned the family 16 years ago,” Miller said. “The mother, Amanda, has kept the family together, depending on Tom to support them financially. Amanda wants her daughter, Laura, to be married and asks Tom to help find a ‘gentleman caller’ for Laura. Tom has reached the point where he wants to pursue his own dreams. Laura is shy and withdrawn, retreating into her own world with her ‘glass menagerie.’
“They are all living in a fantasy world. The play, which is in two acts, has a bittersweet ending. Tom does leave. … Amanda and Laura go on. They are not broken. We are all pieces of a glass menagerie. We are all insignificant … small and fragile.”
Miller said the cast consists of only four people.
“But it’s a powerhouse cast,” he said. “They are all very good. The first thing you do as a director is get a good cast. … That makes you look good.”
The cast includes the following:
• Trent Reese of Conway portrays Tom Wingfield.
“I learned about this play in college,” said Reese, who is a member and past president of the Community Arts Association of Conway Board of Directors and a 2012 graduate of the University of Central Missouri. “A lot of people consider this play as a staple of American theater. Some say it was autobiographical for Williams. … He certainly hit the big time with it.
“There’s a lot of pressure to present this iconic role,” said Reese, who teaches drama at Independent Living Services. “There are so many layers to it. It’s a great show with universal themes. I am excited to be a part of it.”
• Peggy Cromwell of Maumelle appears as Amanda Wingfield.
“I have never appeared in this play, but I have taught it,” Cromwell said. “I taught high school English for years. It’s a little different playing the part of Amanda rather than teaching about the play and its themes. I think I am a little more sympathetic toward her as a character.
“It’s like Trent said … this is a dream role,” she said. “Most of my roles have been more comedic. This one is pretty serious.”
Cromwell, who is a deacon at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church and a retired teacher from the Benton School District, made her debut with the Lantern Theatre in 2018 when she appeared in its production of Shakespeare’s Macbeth. She has previous acting experience with the Maumelle Players.
• Ashley Murie of Conway appears as Laura Wingfield.
“I did not know this play before I auditioned for the part,” Murie said. “I knew some of Tennessee Williams’ other plays, like Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, but not this one.
“When we started talking about our characters and how I might want to portray Laura, we decided to let Laura just do what she wants to do,” Murie said, smiling.
Murie appeared in the Lantern productions of Stop Kiss, by Diana Son, in 2014 and The Rocky Horror Show, by Richard O’Brien, in 2015. She is a 2011 graduate of Greenbrier High School and studied acting at the University of Arkansas Community College at Morrilton. She now works as a member of a patient-care team at Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock.
• Kevin Keeler of Conway portrays Jim O’Conner, the gentleman caller.
“I knew who Tennessee Williams was, but I was not familiar with this play,” said Keeler, noting that he has been involved in theater since college. “I earned my degree in music education at Louisiana Tech University and am now working on my master’s degree in music education at UCA. I was in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (a musical comedy with music and lyrics by William Finn) at LA Tech in 2014.
“My character, Jim, works with Tom at the shoe warehouse, and his mother has persuaded him to bring home a ‘gentleman caller’ to meet his sister, Laura,” Keeler said. “It turns out Jim and Laura knew each other at one time, and she had a crush on him; however, Jim had moved on with his life. Jim does come ‘calling’ but cannot become involved with Laura because he is already engaged to someone else.
“I am having a good time with this play, but it’s the most dense lines I have ever done in a show,” he said, laughing.
Keeler appeared in the ensemble of the Lantern’s production of She Kills Monsters, by Qui Nguyen, in 2018. He has also appeared in productions at The Studio Theatre in Little Rock.
Miller, a past president of the CAAC Board of Directors and currently its treasurer, said the Lantern Theatre will present The Odd Couple, Female Version, by Neil Simon, in the fall. Information will be posted on the Lantern’s website and on Facebook @conwaylanterntheatre.