This year, the MTC is adding in a new early fall production, “The Glass Menagerie.”
The Marquette Theater Company (MTC) does three shows a year. One musical in the fall/winter and then a student-directed act at the end of January. Lastly, a full-length play is done in the spring. However, this year, there will be an extra play added in the fall.
“The Glass Menagerie” by Tennessee Williams follows the lives of a family who lived in St. Louis during the 1930s. This story is told through the narrator Tom Wingfield, who is played by junior Stephan Bosnjak.
The International Thespian Society (ITS) is a theater honor society for high school and middle school students.
“The goal is also to get this play ITS adjudicated and in order to have a chance to perform this play at the (ITS) we need to get everything set up now,” Bosnjak said.
Anvitha Rani, junior, is one of the stage managers and is also a member of ITS.
You need 10 credits to get into ITS, and you get five credits per show. The majority of “The Glass Menagerie” cast are members of this organization.
“I am excited to be a part of something so unique and different,” Rani said.
This kind of play has never been done at MHS. Only one fall musical is typically held. This year “The Glass Menagerie” will be held from Friday, Oct. 6, through Sunday, Oct. 8, and the annual musical will occur Thursday, Dec. 7, through Sunday, Dec. 10.
The structure of the play is also different from most. The cast only consists of four main actors, a male and female understudy, and a few stage managers. Most of these students are a part of the ITS, which just earned Honors status.
Apart from the cast, the audience seating arrangement within the theater also will be different with only 100 seats in the audience. There will be seats on the very front of the stage itself. Then on each side of the actors will be additional seating.
MTC is also building a 20-foot revolve, which is a circle with a 20-foot radius. This allows the whole set to rotate. This set design also will make it possible for the main character and narrator Tom, to better portray the act of going back in time to tell the story of his family.
Ms. Rebecca Blindauer, director of MTC, said “The Glass Menagerie” is one of her favorite plays because of its connections to St. Louis.
“I think that the cast is tremendously talented and it’s such a beautiful play. It gives the students another option to grow their skills in a different kind of way,” Blindauer said. “We are all just pouring our heart and soul into it,”
