The Glass Menagerie

Tennessee Williams’ enduring classic is an award-winning portrayal of a disintegrating family during the depression of the 1930s. Looking back through the eyes of Amanda Wingfield’s son Tom, we share an intimate moment of their family life in a St. Louis tenement house in the delicate atmosphere of time remembered. Amanda, a former Southern belle, places well-meaning but unrealistic demands on her exceedingly shy and slightly crippled daughter Laura, driving her to seek refuge in a world of fantasy that revolves around her collection of glass animals. Torn between loyalty to his sister and his desire to be free of his family, Tom escapes into a world of alcohol and poetry. When Tom brings home a friend to meet Laura, Amanda hopes this might finally be the suitor who can bring her daughter out of her reclusive shell. Vulnerable and tragic, The Glass Menagerie is one of Williams’ most intimate and heartrending dramas and introduced him as one of the preeminent American playwrights of the 20th century.