'The Glass Menagerie' coming up July 13-15, 20-22

The Mississippi Bend Players will present the Tennessee Williams' classic "The Glass Menagerie" July 13-15 and 20-22.

The play premiered in 1944 and catapulted Williams to fame.

"The Glass Menagerie" is the story of Merchant Marine officer, dreamer and poet Tom Wingfield, who reminisces about working in a warehouse and living in a tenement apartment with his overbearing mother Amanda and shy sister Laura. A menagerie of glass figurines provides Laura an escape that Tom himself longs for in this Tony Award-winning tale of love, loss and the tensions of a family at odds. 

Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and at 2 p.m. Sundays.

“I am thrilled and honored that a dream cast of actors has agreed to take this artistic voyage with me as we approach one of American theatre’s best-known works,” said director Corinne Johnson.

Dr. Johnson is a professor of theatre at St. Ambrose University who won a 2017 Kennedy Center for American College Theatre Festival Gold Medallion for lifetime achievement in teaching and producing theatre.  

Her production features a cast of four: Megan Cox as Amanda, Seth Kaltwasser as Tom, Marjorie Gast as Laura, and recent Augustana graduate Keenan Odenkirk as Jim. 

Gast and Odenkirk also are members of the Players’ internship program, extending their involvement to scenic construction, costumes, lighting and sound, run crew, dramaturgy, administration and house management. 

Tickets are $20, or $15 for seniors, students, children and Augustana faculty and staff. Group rates also are available for 10 or more by calling the box office. 

A show-after-show will be presented July 20 and 21. This 45-minute cabaret will feature summer interns and be presented in the Honkamp Black Box Theatre, beginning 15 minutes after the curtain call. Admission to the show-after-show is $5 per person.

The Mississippi Bend Players, led by executive artistic director, Broadway director and Augustana alumnus Phil McKinley, will conclude the season with "Beginner’s Luck" Aug. 3-5 and 10-12. This a world-premiere comedy by P.J. Lasker, a writer for  television shows "The Golden Girls" and "Barney Miller."