Tristan Tapscott, Jackie McCall, Roger Pavey Jr., and Jo E. Vasquez in The Mockingbird on Main's “The Glass Menagerie" at the Black Hawk College Theatre -- July 7 through 15.
Friday, July 7, through Saturday, July 15
Black Hawk College Theatre, 6600 34th Avenue, Moline IL
Reviewing Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie in the New York Times, Ben Brantley asked, “How can something be this delicate and this strong, so elusive and yet so tenacious?” Those qualities are sure to be in force when this enduring, Tony Award-winning classic enjoys its July 7 through 15 run at Black Hawk College Theatre, the Moline venue graciously housing this Mockingbird at Main production after the devastating building collapse of late-May.
First produced in 1944, and with Brantley adding that Williams' stage memoir is "a perfect play," The Glass Menagerie finds Amanda Wingfield a faded remnant of Southern gentility who lives in poverty in a dingy St. Louis apartment with her son Tom and daughter Laura. Amanda strives to give meaning and direction to her life and the lives of her children. But her methods prove ineffective and irritating, with Tom forced to seek escape in alcohol and the world of the movies. Like her brother, the beautiful but painfully shy Laura also lives in her illusions, shamed by her damaged leg and her mother's anxiety about the girl finding a husband. With Tom's work friend Jim - the famed Gentleman Caller - the final piece of Williams' delicate puzzle, The Glass Menagerie is considered one of the true masterpieces of 20th Century theatre – a moving, funny, heartbreaking work that has starred dozens of film and stage legends including Katharine Hepburn, Jessica Lange, Sally Field, Jessica Tandy, and Julie Harris.
Directing The Glass Menagerie for the Mockingbird is company veteran and River Cities' Reader theatre reviewer Alexander Richardson, whose previous presentations for the theatre have included his original scripts Your Better Self and Their Town, as well as a new adaptation of the Henrick Ibsen classic An Enemy of the People. Portraying Amanda is Jackie McCall, the previous artistic director of the Mississippi Bend Players who directed for Augustana College such family entertainments as Dragons Love Tacos and Miss Nelson Is Missing. Tom is played by the Mockingbird's co-founder and -owner Tristan Tapscott, who also acts as lighting and set designer, with fellow company veterans Jo E. Vasquez (Spooky Pete) as Laura and Reader theatre reviewer Roger Pavey Jr. (An Oak Tree) as the gentleman caller Jim. Celeaciya Olvera serves as Richardson's stage manager and assistant director, and additional members of The Glass Menagerie's creative team include sound designer and composer Micah Bernas, costume designer Bradley Robert Jensen, and intimacy coordinator Cynthia Taylor.
The Mockingbird on Main's The Glass Menagerie will be staged at Black Hawk College's Theatre (Building 1, Room 308) July 7 through 15, with performances Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m. Admission is $12-15, and more information and tickets are available by visiting TheMockingbirdOnMain.com.
