The Glass Menagerie

Winner of the New York Drama Critic’s Circle award for Best American Play

By Tennessee Williams, one of the greatest 20th century American playwrights, The Glass Menagerie, an intimate and beautiful story about family, dreams and the weight of the past, resonates across generations with deeply relatable characters and emotions. Amanda Wingfield only wants the best for her two children, Tom and Laura. With her socialite adolescence behind her, Amanda puts all her energies into pushing her children up the social and financial ladder from which she has fallen. Shadowed by the absence of a father, they struggle to break free from their mother’s imposing ways.

Considered one of the most significant plays in the American theatre canon, The Glass Menagerie premiered on Broadway in 1945 and became an instant commercial and artistic success that established Tennessee Williams’ reputation as a playwright. The play and its characters are based on Williams’ life and family. As a young man, he was employed by the International Shoe Company in St. Louis, the same place Tom Wingfield works in the play.

The Glass Menagerie is the most revived play on Broadway in the last 70 years (followed by Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire). This is Civic’s fourth production; last produced in 1999, starring the late Patty Duke.