Classic drama comes to local stage
Tennessee Williams’ “The Glass Menagerie” will run Nov. 7-24 at the Ocala Civic Theatre.
When Mark Burdette was 16, his first acting coach handed him a script for “The Glass Menagerie” and made him promise if he ever got the chance to audition for it, he would. Burdette read over the script and fell in love with the character of Tom Wingfield.
“My acting coach told me I have to read this monologue, ‘it fits you to a T,’” Burdette said.
He first auditioned for the role as the play’s narrator, Tom Wingfield, at age 33. He was not selected.
“They chose someone who looked quite a bit older than I do. I questioned whether or not to come audition for it here because I’m 44, and this character is not supposed to be that old,” he said.
When Burdette auditioned at Ocala Civic Theatre, he found out he got the role the following day. He now looks forward to fulfilling the promise he made to his first acting coach this fall as he makes his OCT debut asTom.
From Nov. 7-24, legendary playwright Tennessee Williams’ classic 1944 drama, “The Glass Menagerie,” will be live on stage at OCT. Set during the Great Depression in 1930s St. Louis, the play is described by Tom as a memory play in his opening monologue.
Burdette commands the stage at the start, before we meet his mother, Amanda Wingfield, played by Alexis Medina; sister Laura Wingfield, played by Hannah Brannon; and gentleman caller Jim O’Connor, played by Caleb Maclaren Lowe.
The year is 1937 and the location is the Wingfield’s apartment in St. Louis, Missouri.
Returning to the OCT stage, Medina, with a thick southern drawl and thunderous theatrical presence, sweeps the stage in her role of overbearing mother, obsessed with her past life as a southern belle growing up in Blue Mountain, Mississippi. Prior to her role as Amanda, Medina appeared as Marley in “Jimmy Buffet’s Escape to Margaritaville,” part of the quintet in the ensemble of “Sweeney Todd,” and Medda Larkin in “Newsies” at OCT. Medina captures Amanda’s struggle of finding a suitable gentleman caller for her daughter, Laura, who she believes has been attending business college during the day.
Wistful and shy Laura is played by Brannon, who is returning to the OCT stage after previously playing Beatrice in “The Servant of Two Masters” and Woman #2 in “First Date.”
In the first act of the play, Laura is caught deceiving her mother when Amanda discovers Laura has not been going to business college but taking walks around the city instead. Fearful of what will become of Laura without an education or a suitor, the smothering mother begins her campaign to find a gentleman caller for Laura.
Crippled from a childhood injury, Laura spends her time at home playing music on a phonograph and tending to her collection of glass animals, which her mother calls her “glass menagerie.” Brannon captures the demure, doe-eyed role of Laura with poise.
Director of marketing for Ocala Civic Theatre, Melody Murphy, said the play fits in beautifully with the art scene in Ocala.
“The art scene is flourishing right now. There is so much going on. There is so much music, so much art. I think resurrecting a classic like this fits in perfectly,” Murphy said.
According to Murphy, while the play is not appropriate for a small child, it could be important for a middle or high schooler to see.
“If you have a middle schooler or a high schooler who is a little bit more mature for their age, I think it’s important to see a classic drama like this. They’re going to be learning about Tennessee Williams in school and this play is going to come up in their studies,” Murphy said.
Seeing a play performed live does something different for the mind and imagination, according to Murphy.
“Hearing people’s voices say the lines, seeing the costumes, seeing all the little authentic touches of a bygone era, when you can actually see that, and it’s not just in your imagination, it’s a really vivid memory,” Murphy said.
The stage is decorated with 1930s-style props that speak to the dreary aesthetic of the Great Depression with a clothesline hung along the back of the stage, a phonograph, and a typewriter to the right of the center of where Laura’s glass animals are kept in a display cabinet. The set depicts a family of three living in poverty in a disheveled apartment where Amanda reminisces about her youth as a debutante prior to meeting the only absent character of the play: Tom and Laura’s father. Dubbed by Amanda as an alcoholic, the father’s portrait hangs in the home along with the cold feeling of his absence.
Tom works in a shoe warehouse as the breadwinner of the family. Burdened by poverty, his overbearing mother and his sister’s condition, Tom finds escape through alcohol and movies.
Broken up into two acts, the play is around two hours long, with one intermission before the beginning of the second act, where Caleb Maclaren Lowe shines in the role of Jim O’Connor. Lowe previously played Kevin in “Stage Kiss” and appeared in the quintet in “Sweeney Todd” at OCT.
Jim works at the warehouse with Tom, and Tom invites him over for dinner. Upon hearing this, Amanda joyously prepares a meal with hopes that Jim will become a suitor for Laura. Laura is mesmerized by Mr. O Connor, who she had a crush on in high school. Amanda encourages the two to share dandelion wine over candlelight after supper. Laura shares her collection of glass animals with Jim before an unexpected turn of events occurs.
This memory play depicts the struggles of the Wingfield family as they navigate themes of tragedy, hope, and illusion.
Director Eb Madson said he is honored to be back at Ocala Civic Theatre, where last season he directed “The Velocity of Autumn” and “Escape to Margaritaville.” Madson calls “The Glass Menagerie” “a meditation on memory”—how it shapes us, haunts us, and often distorts the past.
His favorite part of directing the OCT production has been the “table work.”
“With this show I loved doing the table work. It’s a part of a process where we read the text as a cast and delve into the text, talk about all the symbolism, all the character development and you really get to know your actors,” Madson said.
“With such a rich text as ‘The Glass Menagerie,’ there are so many juicy layers,” he continued.
According to Burdette, the play is anything but boring.
“Some people hear ‘classic drama’ and think ‘oh, that might be a snooze,’ but I guarantee that they will be so infatuated with the characters and the story that they’re not going to think about checking their Facebook, and I think that’s good for society, to get away from these distractions and find some real beauty in your town,” Burdette said.
Madson’s hope is that the production will resonate with audiences, not just as a reflection of a bygone era but also as a mirror into our own experiences with memory and regret.
According to OCT, “The Glass Menagerie” is the most autobiographical of Williams’ work, winning the New York Drama Critics Circle Award as Best American Play.
The Ocala Civic Theatre is located at 4337 E. Silver Springs Blvd., Ocala. Tickets for “The Glass Menagerie” are $35 for adults and $17 for ages 18 and younger. This show is rated PG. Buy tickets online at ocalacivictheatre.com. To get tickets through the OCT box office, call (352) 236-2274 or visit 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday.
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