The Glass Menagerie - Oct. 18 to 22
by Tennessee Williams
Directed by Shaun Patrick Tubbs
Department Performances
- Wednesday, October 18, 2023 at 8pm - Purchase tickets here
- Thursday, October 19, 2023 at 8pm - Purchase tickets here
- Friday, October 20, 2023 at 3pm - Purchase tickets here
- Saturday, October 21, 2023 at 2pm - Purchase tickets here
- Saturday, October 21, 2023 at 8pm - Purchase tickets here
- Sunday, October 22, 2023 at 3pm - Purchase tickets here
This poetic drama, about the choices in the life of a young artist, made the yet-unknown playwright an overnight sensation. It’s an American classic: envisioned for our world today and our unique theatre in the round.
- Advance tickets: $17 general public / $12 students, seniors & UAlbany faculty-staff
- Day of show tickets: $22 general public / $17 students, seniors & UAlbany faculty-staff
(Photo by Minseo Koo)
The Theatre Program of the University at Albany’s Department of Music and Theatre is pleased to kick off its production season with a much-loved American classic: Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie. Directed by Shaun Patrick Tubbs in his debut production at UAlbany as the new Visiting Assistant Professor of Directing, there will be six public performances at the UAlbany Performing Arts Center on the uptown University at Albany campus from October 18 to 22, 2023. The schedule includes shows on Wednesday & Thursday, October 18 & 19 at 8pm; Friday, October 20 at 3pm; Saturday, October 21 4 at 2pm & 8pm; and Sunday, October 22 at 3pm.
This poetic drama, about the choices in the life of a young artist, made the yet-unknown Tennessee Williams an overnight sensation. Its style as a memory play—presented through the eyes of the character Tom—will be enhanced by its staging in-the-round, in the UAlbany Performing Arts Center’s unique Arena Theatre.
“The Glass Menagerie is rightfully considered to be Tennessee Williams' most significant or well-crafted work, not only for its story and characters, but also because of its inventive, theatrical elements, specifically the play's form and structure,” says director Tubbs. “I am most excited to explore the questions the play raises about reality, memory, and illusion.”
While the play has long been part of the American theatrical cannon, it should particularly resonate with audiences today in the way that it “deals with the isolation that people feel when they cannot connect to each other or the world at large,” says Tubbs. “The Glass Menagerie mirrors Tennessee Williams’s own life, his very real isolation and that of his family’s. It’s such a personal piece, but also a very familiar one, that connects and relates to audiences as much, or maybe more, today as it did when it first was introduced.”
“Written by Tennessee Williams as a young artist struggling to make his name and discovering the themes and character-types that would continue to haunt his work, we hope that the play will speak to our Theatre students as young artists themselves,” says Theatre Program Director Kate Walat who notes that it is in keeping with the Program’s dedication to performing classic American plays such as last fall’s production of August Wilson’s A Piano Lesson.