Skip to main content Skip to footer site map

The African-American Shakespeare Company Returns With THE GLASS MENAGERIE

The Glass Menagerie runs from March 10 through March 26.

The African-American Shakespeare Company Returns With THE GLASS MENAGERIE

The African-American Shakespeare Company is proud to finally present The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams. Originally scheduled for February of 2022, it had to be postponed due to COVID but now will take its place beside two other Williams plays performed by the company: Cat on a Hot Tin Roofin 2013 and most recently their hugely moving and well-received production of A Streetcar Named Desire in 2018.

As conceived and directed by Monica White Ndounou, Executive Director and Founder of The Craft Institute, this version will most definitely reflect the ethos of the African-American Shakespeare Company of "Envisioning the classics with color."

"I want to explore and illuminate the various ways people of color experienced the economic circumstances and family dynamics inherent in the play," says Ndounou. "Consider it a conversation between our artists and creative team and Tennessee Williams. A call and response of sorts if you will."

This autobiographical play catapulted Williams from obscurity to fame, and is well known for many things, not least of all the fierce and at times resentful matriarch Amanda Wingfield who though originally from means and very much a particular type of Southern belle, has what would now be called a "side hustle" selling magazines. This contrasts against her very introverted and heartbreakingly sensitive daughter Laura who collects delicate glass animals, and her elusive son Tom.

Noting that some critics have objected to the idea that a Black Amanda Wingfield would be so wistful about her southern upbringing and her place in it, Ndounou casts it aside and looks to her own personal experience as a guide. "As a Black woman and native southerner," she says, "I see this as an opportunity to bring the south and southern culture of the time alive for these characters of color as it would have been lived. While the experience of Williams as a writer was of course from a white perspective, books such as Our Kind of People by Lawrence Otis Graham outlines the ways that well-off Black communities engaged in some of the same standards and practices like cotillions and other things that continue to this day. So there is a lot to work with here. And I am here for it!"

What: The African-American Shakespeare Company Presents The Glass Menagerie
When: March 10-26
Where: Marines Memorial Theatre
Tickets: $35.00-$75.00 at City Box Office



Video: SIX Tour Queens Sing National Anthem for San Francisco Warriors Photo
Watch as The Queens of SIX's Aragon Tour performed the National Anthem for the Golden State Warriors on Saturday, March 11, 2023.

Review: FANNIE - THE MUSIC AND LIFE OF FANNIE LOU HAMER at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley Photo
What did our critic think of FANNIE - THE MUSIC AND LIFE OF FANNIE LOU HAMER at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley?

Front Porch to Present A Showcase Of Local Musical Talent Photo
Town Hall Theatre will kick off a quarterly performance series featuring local musicians performing well-known as well as original songs in an entertaining evening for the whole family. Entitled Front Porch Presents, the first show will happen on Friday, April 7th at 7:00pm on the stage at Town Hall Theatre and will feature special guest, Lafayette's Stevie Coyle of The Quitters, along with eight other musical acts. 

Bay Area Cabaret to Welcome FUNNY GIRLs Julie Benko with Jason Yeager in April Photo
Bay Area Cabaret will present the highly anticipated cabaret debut of Julie Benko, Broadway's sensational Funny Girl standby-to-breakout star as Fanny Brice, and Jason Yeager, the highly praised jazz pianist-composer, in their new hit show, Hand in Hand, on Sunday, April 16 at 5 p.m., at the elegant Venetian Room.


More Hot Stories For You


Bay Area Cabaret to Welcome FUNNY GIRL's Julie Benko with Jason Yeager in AprilBay Area Cabaret to Welcome FUNNY GIRL's Julie Benko with Jason Yeager in April
March 18, 2023

Bay Area Cabaret will present the highly anticipated cabaret debut of Julie Benko, Broadway's sensational Funny Girl standby-to-breakout star as Fanny Brice, and Jason Yeager, the highly praised jazz pianist-composer, in their new hit show, Hand in Hand, on Sunday, April 16 at 5 p.m., at the elegant Venetian Room.

Diablo Regional Arts Association Names Paige Hernandez as First-Ever Artist in ResidenceDiablo Regional Arts Association Names Paige Hernandez as First-Ever Artist in Residence
March 17, 2023

Diablo Regional Arts Association has named acclaimed performer, director, choreographer, and playwright Paige Hernandez as its first-ever Artist in Residence.

San Francisco Opera Center and Merola Opera Program's Schwabacher Recital Series Continues in AprilSan Francisco Opera Center and Merola Opera Program's Schwabacher Recital Series Continues in April
March 17, 2023

The 39th season of the Schwabacher Recital Series, presented by San Francisco Opera Center and the Merola Opera Program, continues Wednesday, April 12 with a program by countertenor Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen and pianist Carrie-Ann Matheson at San Francisco's Dianne and Tad Taube Atrium Theater in the Veterans Building.

The Mountain Play Presents INTO THE WOODS For Their 110th Season, May 21- June 18The Mountain Play Presents INTO THE WOODS For Their 110th Season, May 21- June 18
March 16, 2023

The Mountain Play, the San Francisco Bay Area's most magical outdoor theater experience, will present INTO THE WOODS for its 110th Season, May 21 through June 18.

Support The Arts At Bay Area Children's Theatre's Blue Moon BallSupport The Arts At Bay Area Children's Theatre's Blue Moon Ball
March 16, 2023

On May 20th at 4 PM, come out and shake your tail feather along with the cast of Giraffes Can't Dance at Bay Area Children's Theatre's Blue Moon Ball.