All Saints produces shattering version of Glass Menagerie

Put yourself in the shoes of Tom Wingfield. It is 1937 in St. Louis, Mo., and America struggles to escape the shadow of the Great Depression. Your father is gone, you are suffocating in the grasp of your overprotective mother, and you must forgo your dreams to support your family. All Saints High School captured this bleak reality in their production of The Glass Menagerie.

The Glass Menagerie, a celebrated play by Tennessee Williams, displays that world through the hazy lens of Tom’s memories. Although Tom has fled the unbearable reality of his youth, he cannot escape the haunting recollection of his timid sister, Laura. His mother, Amanda, drives the story of his early years. She is eccentric, pathologically devoted and lost in the memories of her youth. Themes of love, loss and retrospection are explored in this powerful drama.

All Saints High School tackled this rich script with emotional maturity. Tori Faircloth was an intense Amanda, with an appropriate southern lilt. Brandyn Coulas, as the Young Tom, captured the trapped youth, putting full emotional force into Tom’s heated exchanges with Amanda.

Jim O’Connor, played by Nicholas Fassbender, is an old highschool friend of Tom’s who gives Laura a fleeting glimpse of love. Fassbender was an earnest Jim, speaking with a lively oblivion that conveyed the ambition of his character. Brynn Rhude as Laura was all short, flighty movements and fragility.

The romantic scene between Fassbender and Rhude was fully charged and dynamic.

The production was narrated by Christian McGregor, as the older Tom. He delivered his lines like any good storyteller; every slight smile, gesture or glance helping to round out the man Tom has become. To enhance the story, a group of “memory actors” would mime scenarios discussed by the actors, enthusiastically tackling anything from cheerleaders to protesters.

The entire play is set in a small, historically appropriate apartment, a space designed by Katherine Van der Ploeg. A challenging sound and lighting scheme was executed with admirable attention to detail. Lighting was creative and accurate, as when lights flashed to accompany thunder, or abruptly turned on when an actor mimed flicking a switch.

All Saints High School put impressive effort into this classic play. They invited the audience to walk a mile in Tom’s shoes, into a world where illusions are as fragile as glass and glittering dreams inevitably shatter.