Clarksville Little Theatre to Stage THE GLASS MENDACITY

The fragile, damaged, quirky Southern characters in Tennessee Williams' plays are ripe for parody, especially because the successful production of his work requires a carefully calibrating hand.

This sendup could be accurately re-titled "Glass Streetcar Menagerie on a Hot Tin Roof," as it combines characters and story lines from Williams' three best-known plays.

Here, narrator-attorney Mitch O'Connor (Andrew McGill) visits his client Big Daddy Dubois (Gary Crockett), who is dying of a spastic colon. Big Daddy's daughter Blanche Kowalski (Rita Hight) is as crazy as a jaybird, and her husband, Stanley (Tim Kitchen), is having an affair with Maggie "the Cat" (Candace Kresse), who parades around in a never-ending variety of slips. Laura (Valerie Timmons) is haunted by her love of Mitch and her collection of glass figurines that in reality are ice cubes.

Writers Maureen Morley and Tim Willmorth have a stream of jokes about sweating; but with references to Maalox juleps and a hairdo that's "a replica of the aspic served at the Miss Palmetto Contest," aptly worn by Big Mama Amanda Dubois (Cindy Smith).

THE GLASS MENDACITY, directed by Ron Johnson, will play March 11, 12, 17, 18 and 19 at 8 PM and March 13 at 2 PM. Tickets: Adults - $17; Seniors (60+) - $14; Teens (13-19) - $14; Children (5-12) - $10 (children under 5 who sit on an adult's lap are free). For reservations, call 812-283-6522 or go to clarksvillelittletheatre.org.