April 10, 2003

Contact: Paul Stephen Lim, English department, (785) 864-3642.

KU English department to stage a 'Menagerie' like no other

LAWRENCE -- A production unlike any other of Tennesee Williams' "The Glass Menagerie" will be performed by the English Alternative Theatre and the Lawrence Arts Center at the arts center, 940 New Hampshire, at 8 p.m. April 16 through 18 and 2:30 p.m. April 19.

Although "The Glass Menagerie" is one of the most produced plays in America, Paul Stephen Lim, KU Conger -Gable teaching professor of English and the play's director, says that the upcoming production of the play will be unlike anything seen before, and he hopes that the fresh concept he is imposing on the familiar play will generate healthy discussion among audience members.

To begin with, Lim says that most productions assume that no more than a few years have passed between 1939, when narrator Tom Wingfield leaves his family members to their own devices in St. Louis, and the time he tries to explain why he left. In the EAT-LAC production, at least 30 years have elapsed, so two actors play Tom -- the younger Tom is angrier about the situation he finds himself in, while the older Tom is almost bemused by the memory.

Lim also uses nearly 100 slides of Hollywood actors from the 1930s to the present to help illustrate why Tom constantly goes to the movies. In the play, Tom's father deserted the family years before, and Tom not only is indulging in escapist fare when he goes to the movies but also is looking for the absent father every time he gazes at the male icons manufactured by Hollywood.

Finally, boldest of all, Lim says that this production of "The Glass Menagerie" continues to be a memory play in which the audience revisits the world of St. Louis in 1939, but the actual setting of the play is a dark and mysterious wharf in present-day Amsterdam, with a gay bar discreetly off to one side. It is from this gay bar that Tom Wingfield begins to tell us his story. "It is no great secret that Tennessee Williams was gay and that this play is very thinly disguised autobiography," Lim says, "so there is no reason why we cannot show what Williams was really up to at this point in his life, and which he reveals in subsequent letters and interviews."

Featured players in "The Glass Menagerie" are Amy Devitt (Amanda), Aron Carlson (the younger Tom), John Younger (the older Tom), Jacqueline Grunau (Laura) and Jeremy Auman (the Gentleman Caller). Playing various shadowy figures in the gay bar in Amsterdam are Paul Shoulberg, Mick Circo, Ryan Fleming, Brian Gray, Brenna Daldorph and Karl Ramberg, who also is providing original live music for the production. The director of the play is Paul Stephen Lim, the scenic and costume designer is Kaye Miller, the lighting designer is Lee Saylor, the sound engineer is Matt Gaus and the stage manager is Kirby Fields.

Tickets cost $10, $6 for students and $8 for seniors and are available at the Lawrence Arts Center, 940 New Hampshire St. or (785) 843-2787.

Students in the play, their year in school, major, parents' names and high school alma mater (if available) are:

DOUGLAS COUNTY
From Lawrence
Paul Shoulberg, senior in theatre and film; Lawrence High School graduate.

JOHNSON COUNTY
From Spring Hill
Michael "Mick" Circo, junior in English, son of Bobbi Johnson and Carl Circo; Saint Thomas Aquinas High School graduate.

MARION COUNTY
From Hillsboro
Jacqueline Grunau, junior in anthropology, daughter of Charles Grunau; Hillsboro High School graduate.

SEDGWICK COUNTY
From Wichita
Ryan Fleming, senior in English, son of Mary Fleming; Wichita High School East graduate.

NORTH DAKOTA
From Mandan
Brian Gray, senior in English, son of David and Arlene Gray; Mandan High School graduate

Faculty in the play are:

Amy Devitt, professor of English
John Younger, professor of classics