Many students have heard of Tennessee Williams’ “The Glass Menagerie,” but haven’t had the opportunity to see it on the stage. This September and October, UNCW’s theatre department will bring this classic American play to the Mainstage Theatre.

“The Glass Menagerie” centers around one night for a family. Tom, played by senior Cameron Young, opens the show as the narrator. He tells the audience about the play, that it is a memory, and that he is both the narrator and a character in it. He also talks about his mother Amanda ( senior Davis Byrd) and sister Laura (senior Lauren Berg). Amanda has high hopes for her children, but neither is achieving them. That night, a Gentlemen Caller is coming for Laura, and it is that event the play follows.

Dr. Anne Berkeley is the director and has kept the play fairly close to the original work by keeping it set in the 1930’s during the Great Depression. The theatre department decided to include such a well-known play because of what it can do for the community.

“We feel in order to make a contribution to the community and to the university that it’s important to include in our seasons, plays that have endured through centuries and have universal themes, and are still produced because they’re theatrically effective, and [have] beautiful writing, riveting characters, and timely issues,” said Berkeley.

What are the timely issues in this show? For Dr. Berkeley one is the socio-economic environment. Because the play is set during the Great Depression, many people can relate to the hard economic times that happened then, and are occurring today.

“There still are so many people who are left behind and either live on subsistence wages or who are poor or who are in any way pushed to the margins of society,” said Berkeley. “So I think that the play is in many ways a critique of the American mythology of anyone can get ahead if they just work hard enough and play by the rules.”

For senior Cameron Young, the play will take the audience on a roller coaster.

“Some of the scenes are fairly emotionally demanding,” said Young. “It’s a rollercoaster of high tension and low tension. The pace changes throughout the show. I guess I just would hope for them [the audience] to go on an emotional ride and kind of escape from their own lives for a bit.”

Young isn’t the only senior in the show. Lauren Berg, who is graduating in December, auditioned for “The Glass Menagerie” for multiple reasons.

“I really wanted to be able to work with such a small cast,” said Berg. “I really wanted to work with Dr. Berkeley…It’s also my last show before I graduate. And I wanted the opportunity-“The Glass Menagerie” is a huge name, ya know, I want that under my belt, to say that I’ve been able to [be in it].”

According to Berg, the cast has been rehearsing since a week before the semester started and has become really close.

“The relationships that we’ve formed as a cast have become really apparent in our characters,” said Berg. “Our characters-there’s a relationship there. You can feel it, ’cause we spent so much time together. We’ve become comfortable on stage.”

Dr. Berkeley says that the cast has the most challenging role in the show because each character is so complex.  

“They are multi-faceted characters who develop throughout the play in very subtle ways,” said Berkeley. “So that has certainly been one of them, is working with the actors to try and bring out all the facets of the characters since they’re such rich, beautifully written characters and are multi-dimensional. So I would say that has been the most challenging and exciting component of the directing.”

Writer Tennessee Williams is one of the most famous American playwrights, with “The Glass Menagerie” being one of his most famous plays. Because of that, Dr. Berkeley hopes students will come out to see the show.

“I would just really encourage students to come to it in order to have an opportunity to experience in depth this great classic of American art,” said Berkeley. “That’s what college is for, to experience these things.”

“The Glass Menagerie” will run September 27-30 and October 11-14 in the Mainstage Theatre of the Cultural Arts Building. Thursday through Saturday performances are at 8 p.m., and Sunday matinees are at 2 p.m. Tickets are $12 for general admission, $10 for faculty, and $5 for students.