Virtual University Theatre
The Glass Menagerie is the story of a family desperate to break free of the burdens of their past and their present. This semi-autobiographical account of Tennessee Williams’ early days in 1930s St. Louis is a heartbreaking yet often funny memory play told from the perspective of Tom Wingfield. Tom's mother, Amanda has been abandoned by her husband, and now lives only for her children; his unmarried sister, Laura, is a fragile and painfully shy creature who retreats into a world of glass animals; and Tom himself is torn between his poetic inclinations and the responsibility of supporting his mother and sister. Each escapes into their own personal glass menagerie as a means of eluding the pain of their own - and each other's - existence.