Runs: 09/22/10 — 10/10/10
Opening Night: 09/24/10
Event Time: 7:30pm (Sundays matinees at 2:00pm)
Tennessee Williams rewrote his short story “Portrait of a Girl in Glass” into the classic, autobiographical, The Glass Menagerie, which won the prestigious New York Drama Critics Circle Award in 1945. The Wingfield family: Mother Amanda, daughter Laura, and son Tom (Tennessee Williams’ given name), struggle with the difference between dreams and reality, broken promises, failure and reconciliation. Tom is our guide through the play:
Yes, I have tricks in my pocket; I have things up my sleeve. But I am the opposite of a stage magician. He gives you illusion that has the appearance of truth. I give you truth in the pleasant disguise of illusion.
Directed by Marion Rossi, prominent OSU theatre professor and last season’s Willy Loman in Death of A Salesman.
From the Director
I have long been interested in the differences between the “literary” version of THE GLASS MENAGERIE and the acting edition. When I teach the play in classes it is invariably the former (the standard in anthologies) that the students read and that we discuss. I always talkwith them, though, as to how Williams’s initial vision metamorphosed into something quite different in the first production (and most others since). And about how understanding the heightened theatrical qualities of Williams’ original, its blending of non-realistic staging elements and styles, its profoundly poetic visual qualities, serves to articulate and extend the play as memory and to deepen its emotional impact. I hope that some of that awareness of and attention to Williams’s original informs the Bag&Baggage production. This heightened stylization and quality does not exist for its own sake; it grows out of the play’s dramatic essence and its characters. The world we see, the words we hear, the story told is a construct of Tom’s memory, something he puts together for us and for himself in an attempt to expiate his guilt. Memory is not reality; it is built, patched together, reconstructed from the dusty residue, broken shards, and fading hues of the past. Remembering is an inherently theatricalprocess. We each write in our own minds, and for our own reasons, the plays of our past, the poems of memory. In THE GLASS MENAGERIE Tennessee Williams brings to the stage the delicate, fragile, profoundly human act of recollection. Tom remembers for us and with us all.
Cast
Elizabeth Helman – Amanda Wingfield
Elizabeth is very excited to be involved in her first Bag&Baggage production. She earned her MA and Ph.D. from the University of Oregon and currently teaches Acting, Playwriting, and Intro to Theatre in the Theatre Arts program at Oregon State University. She has worked in the theatre as a director, actor, playwright, and costume designer for more years that she would care to mention. Some of her favorite acting roles include Rachel Corie in My Name is Rachel Corie, Joan of Arc in Wholly Joan’s, Hannah/Ethel/Rabbi in Angels in America I and II, and Perdita in A Winter’s Tale. Elizabeth is a long distance runner, sketch comedy writer, frequent food blogger, and enjoys a variety of shenanigans in her limited free time. Thanks so much to the incredible and supportive people in my life and to this rad cast and crew for this great experience. I’m a lucky girl!
Ian Armstrong – Tom
Previous roles for the company include Grumio in Shrew/Prize and Malvolio in Twelfth Night. Ian graduated from the University of Oregon (Go Ducks!) in 2005 with a BA in Theatre. He would like to give his thanks and love to his family and friends for being amazing and supportive.
Theresa Park – Laura Wingfield
Theresa is excited about The Glass Menagerie, her second production with Bag&Baggage. She was previously seen as The Woman in Bag&Baggage’s production of Death of a Salesman. Theresa received her BFA in Theater Performance from Chapman University. Some of her other credits include Jess in the world premier of New Beulah at Chapman University, Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet, and Amy Beth in Life Under Water.
Tylor Neist – Jim O’Connor (The Gentleman Caller)
This is Tylor’s fifth show with Bag&Baggage, having previously been seen as Fred in A Christmas Carol, Happy in Death of a Salesman, Lane/Merriman in The Importance of Being Earnest, and The Critic/Aemilia in The Comedy of Errors. He also composed the original violin score for Romeo and Juliet, Bag&Baggage’s 2009 outdoor summer Shakespeare production. His feature film debut, “Coup De Theatre,” is due to be released this fall. In addition to acting, Tylor trains actively in Aikido and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, as well as keeping his music career pedaling along. As a classically trained musician, with a Master’s degree from Manhattan School of Music in violin performance, Tylor is the artistic director of the locally based RedSneaker project (redsneaker.org) and recently composed and orchestrated two feature film scores.
Crew
Alan E. Schwanke – Scenic Designer
Regionally, Alan’s design work has been seen in the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, the Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, the Theatre at the Center in Indiana and the Spokane Opera Company. In the Pacific Northwest, Alan has designed for theatres including Third Rail Repertory Theatre, Salem Repertory Theatre, Bag&Baggage Productions, Lakewood Theatre Company, and Broadway Rose Theatre Company. Among his various honors, in 2010 Alan received the Award for “Outstanding Scenic Design” from the Oregon Theatrical Awards Society and a nomination for “Outstanding Scenic Design” from the Portland Area Musical Theatre Awards. In 2008 Alan was chosen to display his work at both the USITT Young Designer’s Forum in Houston and Ming Cho Lee’s legendary Clambake Portfolio Review in New York City. Alan has also received several commendations for “Excellence in Scenic Design” from the Region VI Design Chair of the Kennedy Center’s American College Theatre Festival. Alan received his MFA in Scenic Design from Northwestern University in Chicago and his BFA in Theatre Design and Technology from the University of Central Oklahoma.
Allison Dawe – Costume Designer
Allison is a local costume designer and freelance seamstress. She has designed and worked on productions at Artists Repertory Theatre, Lakewood Theatre, Broadway Rose Theatre Company, and Bag& Baggage Productions. Some of her favorites include Death of a Salesman (Bag& Baggage), Celebrate Home: a Broadway Rose Christmas, which earned her a Portland Area Musical Theatre Award nomination for best costume design, and Quake (Western Washington University), for which she received an honorable mention for design at the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival in Washington DC. Allison received her BA from Western Washington University’s Fairhaven College in Costume Design and Theatrical Crafts.
Becci Swearingen – Stage Manager
Becci is thrilled to be Stage Managing her first show with Bag&Baggage Productions! She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Theater Arts and Music from Culver-Stockton College in Canton, Missouri and a Master’s Degree in Theater Arts from Portland State University in Portland, Oregon. She has been acting, directing and stage managing for over a decade and doesn’t plan on stopping any time soon. Some of her favorite past productions have been: Little Shop of Horrors, Impossible Marriage, Mame, The Fantastiks, You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, Ursula: Fear of the Estuary, Electra, and Dancing at Lughnasa. Enjoy the show!
Demetri Pavlatos – Technical Director/Master Builder
This is Demetri’s first full season as Bag&Baggage’s Technical Director. He is also the Technical Director for Profile Theatre Company and Third Rail Repertory Theatre, works with the theatre students at Saint Mary’s Academy, and is the owner of Lunar Theatrical, a small set construction and technical services company. Demetri has recently worked with Stumptown Stages, Broadway Rose Theatre Company, and Pixiedust Productions.
Dr. Marion O. Rossi, Jr. – Director
Marion is an Associate Professor of Theatre at Oregon State University where he has taught for the last sixteen years. Marion teaches a wide variety of theatre subjects including performance (acting and directing), script analysis, and theory/criticism. He has also directed over thirty productions for the University Theatre at OSU, most recently the classic Hart & Kaufman comedy You Can’t Take it With You and the world premiere of John Frohnmayer’s original musical, Spin. Last September Marion joined Bag&Baggage as a guest artist for its production of Death of a Salesman, playing Willy Loman; in December he trod the Venetian stage as Ebenezer Scrooge in the B&B adaptation of A Christmas Carol. Other recent acting credits include Henri in Heroes, Andrey Botvinnik in A Walk in the Woods (both with Willamette STAGE Company), Scrooge in the 2007 Bag& Baggage production of A Christmas Carol, Cliff in The Wool Gatherer for Thriving!Theatre, and Shylock in The Merchant of Venice at Oregon State. He is married to the loveliest of the lovely, Kim, with whom he shares five cats, ‘Douille the Dachshund, and Rocky, a really cool turtle.
Katelyn Redinger – Props Master
Katelyn Redinger has been a prop master for ten years and is a recent graduate of Portland State University, where she was the school’s Resident Prop Master. Since moving to Portland three years ago, she has done work with Public Playhouse, Portland Center Stage, and the Working Theater Collective. Her favorite productions include The Odd Couple and Electra. She is also a professional kyōgen actor (Japanese theater) and has performed the translated play Busu with her partner, Mark Hayes, over a dozen times. Katelyn is thrilled to be working with Bag& Baggage, and looks forward to contributing to their future productions. In addition to making props for theater, Katelyn is a veteran cosplayer, and makes props for Japanese Anime and video game cosplays and conventions. When she’s not fiddling with props, Katelyn is a waitress and an art model, and enjoys playing with her cat, J.G. Buttons.
Kirk Webster – Assistant Stage Manager
Kirk has been working in, with and for theatres for 11 years. His experience and curiosity has taken him from onstage to backstage, from House manager to stage hand, and to lighting and sound. He worked in Corvallis for 3 years as a technical “everyman” but has spent the last few years without a theatre to call home and is now excited to be Assistant Stage Managing in his first production for Bag&Baggage.
Playwright
no playwright information available