Theatre News Wire

The Glass Menagerie holds in its shadowed fragility the stamina of success." - So reads legendary theatre critic Claudia Cassidy's first sentence from the "most famous review in Chicago theater history" in the Chicago Tribune on December 27, 1944. How prescient she was. Almost 70 years and thousands of productions after its premiere at Chicago's Civic Theatre, this beloved American classic by Tennessee Williams continues to mesmerize, still weaving its spell for actors, directors and audiences alike.

Fresh from his triumphant stewardship of this summer's masterful interpretation of Shakespeare's Henry V, Kevin Theis again brings his keen directorial sense to this heartbreaking portrait of the fractured Wingfield family.

"At a moment in their lives when possibility and hope seem just around the next corner, the Wingfield family's doomed matriarch Amanda and her children Tom and Laura strive to make their fragile dreams come true. World war is about to engulf the country, and the Wingfields are struggling to survive in an economic climate that disturbingly resembles our own," Theis observes. "As relevant and revolutionary now as in 1944, this quintessentially haunting 'memory play' delicately illumines the insidious effects of self-delusion, as well as the gut-wrenching internal conflict of a loving brother whose personal survival and promise of becoming a great writer is possible only through a necessary act of abandonment."

Long-time Chicago director, actor, and teacher Belinda Bremner, whose splendid performance as the Chorus expertly guided Henry V audiences through the political intrigues and war-torn fields of England and France, again returns to the Festival Theatre stage as the haunted Amanda.

Appearing in his Festival Theatre debut, Chicago favorite Christian Gray plays Williams' semiautobiographical role of Tom, whose profound love for his disabled sister and mounting frustration with being the sole support of his troubled family prevents him from pursuing his own dream and destiny as a successful poet.

Assuming the role of the disabled, painfully shy, and maternally smothered Laura Wingfield, whose only reality is her treasured collection of delicately crafted miniature glass animals, Zoe Palko returns to OPFT after her appearance in 2010's Love's Labour's Lost. Also appearing on the Festival Theatre stage for the first time and rounding out this outstanding ensemble is Luke Couzens as Jim, the Gentleman Caller, who at Tom's behest unknowingly agrees to visit and then unwittingly rocks the fragility of Laura's crystalline world before he, too, flees from expectations he clearly did not anticipate.

The set is designed by Michael Lasswell, with lighting by Aimee Hanyzewski, and costumes by Lindsay Schmeling. Robert W. Behr stage manages.

The Glass Menagerie runs October 6 through November 13 at the Madison Street Theatre, 1010 W. Madison in Oak Park. Performances are Thursday through Saturday at 8:00 p.m. and Sunday at 5:00 p.m. Please note: Opening night on Sunday, October 9 is at 8:00 p.m. Please see OakParkFestival.com for the complete show schedule and to purchase tickets.