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Photos by AnthonyMatula/MA2LA.com
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Photos by AnthonyMatula/MA2LA.com
When regional theater company Studio Tenn staged a small production of The Glass Menagerie during the company's debut season, critics and fans were blown away. Now in its sixth season, the company will present a much bigger production of the Tennessee Williams classic at The Factory at Franklin's Jamison Hall from February 18 through 28.
'We had such a response that we couldn't wait for the right opportunity to do it again,” says artistic director Matt Logan. 'It is such a testament to the brilliant material and how timeless it is. I love that Tennessee Williams' writing is shards, or mosaics, of the Southern way of life. For anyone who visits or appreciates [the South], your mosaic may not be just like his, but the pieces are so similar that there is something incredibly comforting and profound about it.”
Starring in the play are Nan Gurley, Eric Patso-Crosby, Ellie Sikes, and Brent Maddoxall representative of the 'stellar talent” that can be found right here in Nashville, says Logan.
After premiering in 1944, The Glass Menagerie spurred Williams' rise to fame as one of America's greatest playwrights. The loosely autobiographical story is narrated by the character Tom, who recounts a time in his life when the abandonment of his father left him to care for his mother and a sister with special needs.
'At the core of it, the mother, daughter, and son in this story have an incredible love for each other, which makes their torment more difficult,” says Logan. 'I think in every situationand most are not as severe as thisthere's this element of the need to cut the apron strings. It was suffocating [for Tom], so he ran away at the end of the play, but he felt remorse and guilt ever since. It haunts him every single day.”
As director and designer of the upcoming production, Logan is incorporating a cinematic quality to the show without changing the original 1930s setting.
'Theater is being reshaped and re-envisioned by our audience's awareness and exposure to cinema, so storytelling is changing onstage,” he explains. 'Through the devices of design and music, I try to approach it with a very contemporary ear and lens. There is a soundtrack that has been developedyou really could liken it to a film score in the way that heightens and follows the situations and emotions.”