THE GLASS MENAGERIE Announced At Gettysburg Community Theatre

Gettysburg Community Theatre (GCT), the non-profit 501c3 organization located at 49 York Street within the first block of Lincoln Square in Gettysburg, PA, is now celebrating its 16th Season as the only year-round community theatre in Adams County.

A drama of great tenderness, charm, and beauty, THE GLASS MENAGERIE is the iconic American classic that launched the career of American playwright Tennessee Williams. This autobiographical “memory play” captures the fragility and stifled yearning of characters clinging to hope against the harsh realities of a rapidly changing world. Confined to a tiny St. Louis apartment on the eve of World War II, the Wingfield family struggles to find beauty amid the rough circumstances that surround them. Cory Metcalf stars as Tom, the play's narrator, now the breadwinner, who works at a dreary shoe factory warehouse during the day but slips away nightly to the movies. Erin DiNello plays Amanda, a faded Southern Belle who tries to be a caring mother, but whose meddling and nagging are difficult for her adult children to take. Jamie Elizabeth, Tom's sister, Laura, a shy, frightened young woman with fragile nerves and a lame leg; she seldom leaves the apartment, instead busying herself with her “glass menagerie” of miniature animals. Rounding out the cast is Joey Massara as Jim O'Connor, Tom's co-worker from The Warehouse, and Laura's high school crush.

Williams' autobiographical “memory play” captures the fragility and stifled yearning of characters clinging to hope against the harsh realities of a rapidly changing world. Based on his own family, Williams's depiction of the tragic circumstances that ultimately led to a life fraught with alcoholism, anger and regret is a drama of great tenderness, charm and beauty that has never lost its truthfulness or its impact.

The play began life as a short story: “Portrait of a Girl in Glass” was completed by Williams in 1943. Then, while working as a screenwriter for MGM in Hollywood, he rewrote the story into the unsuccessful script, The Gentleman Caller. Finally, in 1944 the work evolved into The Glass Menagerie. It premiered that year in Chicago, where it overcame a shaky start. Championed by critics whose enthusiasm helped build audiences, the producers moved the play to Broadway where it won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award. The triumph launched Williams' career — and what Williams later called “the catastrophe of success.” It has since received numerous Broadway revivals with actors such as Piper Laurie, Maureen Stapleton, Jessica Tandy, Julie Harris and Jessica Lange in the role of Amanda.

Directed by Karen Land of Gettysburg, the cast includes Erin DiNello of Westminster, Cory Metcalf of Gettysburg, Jamie Elizabeth of York, and Joey Massara of Shippensburg. Karen Land directed the highly acclaimed GCT productions of The Diary Of Anne Frank, The Complete Works Of William Shakespeare (abridged), and last season's epic Angels In America (Parts One & Two). Karen is also the director of GCT's Improv Troupe that performs four times a year at GCT with no script at all in improvisational comedy with an audience.

Tickets

The public can subscribe free to the GCT email list to be kept up to date on all info. Upcoming auditions include 7pm March 5 & 6 for Shakespeare's Julius Caesar directed by Elizabeth Pellegrino, and 7pm March 10 & 12 for the classic Cole Porter musical Anything Goes directed by Bruce Moore. More information is available at www.GettysburgCommunityTheatre.org.

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