Marquette Theater Company (MTC) performed their fall play “The Glass Managerie” at the International Thespian Society (ITS) Conference at the beginning of January.

In October MTC performed “The Glass Menagerie” for audiences of only 40 at a time. Among the small audiences were judges who saw potential to put the show in front of a much larger stage. The play was chosen as one of the three plays being performed at conference in Jefferson City. In theater, this process is called adjudication.

Kara Miller, senior, played Laura Wingfield and was shocked to find out she was performing for such a large audience.

“They told me the play was adjudicated and I didn’t know what it meant at the time,” Miller said. “Then they were like, can you perform in front of 2,000 people? I said, ‘What?’ That’s a lot more than 20.”

With shock also came a great deal of excitement for all of the MTC Members. This is the first time the MTC has performed at the conference under the current director, Rebecca Blindauer.

“This is a big honor for all of the MTC, especially the people in the ITS,” Miller said

Drew Mathers, junior, who played Jim O’Connor, said the MTC members all worked  hard on the play and bringing the story to life. 

“It was really cool to see the judges appreciated it, and now we get to share it with even more people,” Mathers said. 

 Blindauer was just as excited to share the performance. 

“I’m so unbelievably proud of the hard work they have put in,” Blindauer said.

Blindauer also said staging the play in front of their largest audience yet will inspire and challenge her students, allowing them to improve as actors.

“I really think just having that experience of getting to perform for that many students will be huge for them,” Blindauer said. 

This semester MTC will present the spring play “She Kills Monsters” by Qui Nguyen.