One of Tennessee Williams greatest works nearly closed in the first week of its original Chicago run back in 1944 until critics mounted a campaign to keep it running. Today it is a masterpiece of American drama and part of the lexicon performed worldwide.
The Glass Menagerie, a semi-autobiographical memory play of Williams' own family opens Thursday, April 1 at the Citadel Theatre and plays for a near three-week run until Sunday, April 18.
Directed by the sure hand of Tom Wood, The Glass Menagerie peels back the layers of a dysfunctional southern family. Amanda Wingfield (Fiona Reid) thinks of only one thing — finding a suitable suitor for her sensitive and fragile daughter Laura (Jennifer Mawhinney).
Amanda's son Tom (Shaun Smyth) is devoted to his sister, but he is also itching to escape the confines of his boring warehouse job and spends hours watching movies. Together mother and son plot to find Laura a suitable boyfriend in the name of Jim (Christopher Schulz).
But the best-laid plans go awry and before the evening is over, the stage is littered with broken hearts.
The Citadel is at 9828 – 101 A Ave. Tickets range from $45 to $65 and are available at 780-425-1820 or online at www.citadeltheatre.com.
Theatre Network has been privy to full houses when The Old Trout Puppet Workshop brings its highly original brand of magic.
Running tonight through to April 18, this southern Alberta company introduces The Erotic Anguish of Don Juan, a recent successful venture at the Cultural Olympiad in Vancouver.
Since the 1500s when Don Juan first stepped onto a Spanish stage, every era has created their version of a libertine and mystical prophet of love.
In Old Trout's version, the ghost of Don Juan is beckoned from hell and he will tell his immoral story so we might avoid his doom. But is he a monster or a saint? And who liberates whom?
Tickets range from $16 to $29 with two-for-one Tuesdays. Call 780-453-2440 or visit www.theatrenetwork.ca.
This year the Pro Coro Chamber Choir are singing Johannes Brahms' Ein Deutsches Requiem, a one-hour work derived from the German Luther Bible.
Directed by conductor Richard Sparks, this seven-movement large-scale work for chorus, orchestra and soloists, is one of Brahms' longest works.
Pro Coro's 33 voices including St. Albert's Trent Worthington, Carol Kube, Catharine Kubash, Denise Littman and Ava Leigh Crockett will receive a two-piano accompaniment from Jeremy Spurgeon and Roger Admiral.
The concert is Friday, April 2 at 7:30 p.m. at the Winspear Centre. Tickets are $29 to $49. Visit www.winspearcentre.com.
This coming Friday, April 2 there will be a reunion jam with special guests Doug and Blair Supple, two former Paul Kane students who have taken their guitars to the Kootenays and Calgary respectively.
The brothers, once part of the Mission Park One Horse Blue Gang, are inviting old friends to stop by for the jam starting at 9:30 p.m. at LB's Pub.
Accompanying them is a sit-in drummer, St. Albert's own Gator Shellamy. There is no cover. LB's Pub is at 23 Akins Drive.
The Global Visions Film Festival is screening October Country this coming Thursday, April 1 at Metro Cinema.
Co-directed by Michael Palmieri and Donal Mosher, this is a multi-generational story of a working class family coping with poverty, teen pregnancy, foster care, molestation and war.
It follows Mosher's family from one Halloween to the next, creating a textured portrait of a family in crisis that is representative of America's poor.
Single tickets are $10 and can be purchased at the door on the night of the screening. Metro Cinema is located in Zeidler Hall at 9828 – 101 A Ave.
