I got a chance to discuss The Glass Menagerie, now playing at the Rep Stage (to 3/14), with the director, Michael Stebbins, last week. 

John Glass, DramaUrge: Like the play, the weather has been a background factor in shaping the performance, forcing you to cancel the first 2 weeks of your run.   How did the long layoff affect the show?  What did you all do to stay sharp [extra run-throughs, line-runs, added rehearsals, etc.]?

Michael Stebbins: We had the chance to do two preview performances before the first big snow.  Once that first snow hit we cancelled the next five performances.  We came together the following week on Tuesday afternoon for a run-thru with tech and by the end of the rehearsal, snowstorm number two was starting to fall.  Our next eight performances were canceled.  So, over the second snowstorm we were looking at the viability of a two week extension, which we are doing.  There is quite a cost involved when considering an extension, for during the time we were "dark" all those contracted for the production were still paid. 

DU: It seems to me that "Anxiety of Influence" hangs over this great American Classic with every theatergoer of a certain age having formed an impression of how the play should be performed.  For some, the definitive version may have been already seen; why go again? How do you address this? 

MS:  Christine Demuth, who plays "Laura," has labeled some of our audience members "glass heads."  There seems to be quite a number of people who love the play and they will compare this production to the others that they have seen.  One woman told me prior to the lights going down that she saw Helen Hayes play "Amanda."  An Israeli woman told me that when she saw it in her homeland, "Laura" was in a wheelchair. It's really interesting to hear these people talk about how this production "ranks" with the others they've seen.  Then there are those who have never seen a production of the show.  I love talking to these people, for when I do, it confirms what I've always felt about this play - that it has an undeniable power and pull that is rarely found in the theatre.  You can see a play that pulls out all of the stops, the bells and the whistles and in "The Glass Menagerie" you don't need any of that.  And, after seeing and hearing what Williams has given us, you also realize just how much fluff there is out there.  It sets the theatrical bar quite high.

DU: When we last communicated several months ago, you were very excited about the upcoming production.  I understand that you are using a mature actor to play the part of Tom throughout.  How else did your vision of the play translate to casting?

MS:  When I decided to do the play, I had little doubt in my mind that Christine Demuth would play "Laura."  It was a no-brainer - some casting is like that.  I also had Karl Kippola in mind, for what I really like about Karl is that he has very little in the way of artifice, he isn't out to rock the boat.  He is a very smart, logical, dependable actor who is always available to the other actors on the stage. 

In terms of casting an "older" actor to play "Tom" - I have always imagined that the "Narrator" that we first meet in "present day" is the person who steps back in time and that to see this mature man actually reliving the memories adds two things.  One is that it creates a distancing effect - like the expressive lighting, the music that comes and goes, the projections that appear and disappear, the curtains that open and close on their own.  These details aid the audience in understanding that this is one man's memory - and memory can present itself in a variety of ways.  In dreams, we have no control over how the dream will be told/presented.  So, I think it is very powerful to see the mature "Narrator"/"Tom" actually reliving the memories - he has found himself actually reliving them in the play.  Have you ever had a dream in which the "you" of today found yourself back in time but not any younger? 

Believe it or not, there are some actors who frown upon contemporary classics, and think they are outdated and offer little in the way of a challenge. But, look at "The Glass Menagerie."  If these four actors are not truly "living on stage," I think the play will fail.  I think that is what I am most proud of in this production.  There is genuine talking and listening going on - and that is very hard to get to - to strip everything away and just "be."

In terms of casting "Amanda," I wanted an actress that could play the truth and not the clichéd "Amanda" that we often see - a larger than life, way over the top kind of woman that you might find in a movie like "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane."  One compliment I hear over and over again is how much people like seeing a very human "Amanda."  At the heart of her, she cares deeply for her children, and if that is not there, and if that is not real, the show will suffer.

I spent the most amount of time casting "The Gentleman Caller."  Most often he is portrayed as a cad, or as some have referenced him, as a used car salesman.  I find nothing that supports that and I am so very glad that Brandon McCoy is with us to round out the cast.  There's nothing simple in any of these characters, and this includes "The Gentleman Caller."

DU: You're an accomplished actor and educator - do you find yourself wanting to get actively involved in rehearsal, play the scene as it were?

MS: The atmosphere and the process on "The Glass Menagerie" was very healthy - very organic.  The comfort level of the cast, the little-to-no-ego design team that was assembled - I have always worked with the idea that if, as a director, a goal is to create a healthy working environment, then why not go for it?  With the limited amount of rehearsal and tech and preview time, I want to work with those who will not compromise the process.  In terms of my getting actively involved in rehearsal, I tend to ask more questions of the cast than to play the scene for them.  And, the script is so very well constructed that it leads you to the answers.

DU: In general what's your approach to directing?  Did you find it changed for this production?

MS:  My approach to directing does morph a bit depending on the production I am working on.  On this show, I was very interested in taking the lead off of the Williams script - from set to stage directions to technical cues to dashes to pauses - we explored everything and took it directly from the source.  Yes, things changed, yes we made them our own, but we found that when we followed our impulses, more times than not, the logic in the storytelling took us back to what Williams himself suggested.

DU: Given Tennessee Williams' explicit instructions in the script for the staging, music, lighting, how were you able to introduce your own version while remaining faithful to the script?  What was your overall design concept?

MS:  Again, we all worked directly from the published acting version as well as referenced the "definitive text" version, which was the original version of the play that was produced in Chicago prior to moving to Broadway.  The original version included projections, which were absent by the time the show moved to Broadway.  From design the acting to staging, we all used Williams' words as our Bible.

DU: The playwright indicated that legends (captions or supertitles) were to accompany the projections throughout and also discussed the use of music to add another "extra-literary accent" to the play. How did you further integrate these production notes into the show?   

MS:  When I first read the original version I was intrigued by the use of projections - both images and phrases.  Williams used them throughout and there were many of them.  Some were photographs, many were captions which would begin a scene or pop up in the middle of a scene; some were lines that hadn't been uttered yet - very interesting stuff.  While I liked the use of supertitles, they can also be viewed as a bit obvious, driving a point home - the work of a playwright in process.  The definitive text then reads to me as a close-to-final draft, and in the end Williams delivered such a tight play, a perfect play - in terms of the finely crafted scenes as they are on the printed page - I went with that. 

But, I think projected images are appropriate for this world that we are witness to - this memory.  They are another extension of memory, another layer to add into the mix.  I came up with the images that I was interested in putting up on the stage; then I sat down with photographer David Hobby and talked through what I was "seeing" in my mind's eye as I understood it through the character of "Tom."  The goal in directing this play was to pull in the technical elements - heightened lighting, sound and projections - without any one of them ever pulling the viewer out of the action.  So that we are presented with the memory of "Tom" and we really cannot question it.  We are seeing his memory - his dream.  I think as a design team we have achieved this. 

Regarding the music, Chas Marsh, sound designer, and I listened to the original compositions by Paul Bowles and then discussed our response to it.  So, again, we used the original music as our guide - and Bowles was an extraordinarily talented man.  We wanted music, but we didn't want to copy anything, and I think that Chas came up with a fantastic design.  It adds a real cinematic quality to the play, though I doubt many people would think that.  But when music appears out of nowhere and begins to underscore a section, it does many things to the scene.  It almost acts as a soundtrack. And I find the music in this play very moving.

DU: The Glass Menagerie is a memory play, evoking moods of nostalgia and sentimentality.  How do you straddle the fine line between the two, a legitimate longing for the past and perhaps an artificial or contrived emotional response?

MS:  "Tom" as the "Narrator" says that the play is sentimental, but the characters are anything but.  All of the characters have wants and needs that keep them very active.  Once "Amanda" makes the decision to find a gentleman caller for "Laura" she is off to the races and has the one goal in mind - so this makes her very active.  "Tom" is given permission by his mother to go off and join the Merchant Marines once he assists her in finding a gentleman caller for "Laura."  His desire to escape is very strong, so there's no sentimentality there.

DU: Hope was the last evil to escape from Pandora's Box.  It seems to me that Williams was exploring this aspect, the dark side of a typically positive human desire.  What's your view?

MS: I think there is hope almost to the very, very, very end of the play.  When the hopes are dashed and the jig is up, so to speak, that is what gives this play the heart-ache and heart-break quality.  Up until the time we learn that "The Gentleman Caller" has been going steady - with a girl named Betty - and that he won't call again - up until that time we should never doubt that anything will go horribly wrong.  Oh, sure, we may know it from knowing the play, but you can't play the end of the play from the beginning - or the play will fall flat.

DU: Audience expectation matches that of the characters awaiting the Gentleman Caller, one of the toughest roles to play, I would think.  There's plenty of build-up; then he arrives.  Can he live up to it?  How did you and the actor work on maintaining the spontaneity and freshness from performance to performance?

MS: Williams describes "The Gentleman Caller" as a "nice, ordinary, young man."  That's all he gives you.  I auditioned a number of actors, but finding a "nice, ordinary, young man" isn't as easy as it may seem.  Brandon McCoy is all of those things - and I mean this in the most positive way.  If "The Gentleman Caller" is all of those things, why, when he walks in the door for the first time, the characters as well as the audience should be very happy to see him.  He is a breath of fresh air.  In terms of how we worked on maintaining the spontaneity and freshness:  Christine and Brandon have a wonderful chemistry and it is crucial that they be "in the moment" each time they meet on stage.  Regarding their famous Act II scene, Williams writes, "While the incident is apparently unimportant, it is to Laura the climax of her secret life."  And, we, the audience, should get this feeling.  The atmosphere during rehearsals was very important, for we needed a no pressure approach.  So, it was start and stop and start and stop and talk and personalize moments. 

DU: Regularly when I re-read my favorite books, I find I come away with a whole other understanding of the work, due to age or experience.  Did you and the cast find this in your staging of the play?

MS:  I had read the play in high school - who didn't?  I had seen the play a few times, as well.  It was not until about a year and ½ ago that I pulled the play off of the shelf and had a quiet reading of it and it had a profound effect on me.  It "spoke to me."  And I think that the play speaks to everyone who sees it in one way or another.  It's very personal and that is one of its great strengths.  I believe the cast would answer the same way.  They so look forward to telling the story and they are very much connected to the material, which I think is quite a testament to the writing of Mr. Williams.

DU: The Glass Menagerie would certainly be on my list (probably top) of plays to see for a first time theatergoer.  It must be a privilege to present the play to young audiences (with a number of school matinees).  How did they respond and did their reaction cause you to see the play differently?    

MS: Our young audiences have been amazing.  We had talkbacks with them, and they have little to no issue with the idea of a mature man walking right back into a memory.  They are much more open to not try to put this play in a box - and this is what Williams wanted - less form.  All of us learned a lot from the young audiences that have come.  Many of them relate to "Laura" immediately.  They wanted to hug her and talk to her because many of them have felt or feel that the eyes of the world are on them if they happen to be different.  It was life affirming for some of them.  It was quite moving.

Thank you Michael.  The Glass Menagerie continues at the Rep Stage to 3/14.  Check www.repstage.org for times, dates, and directions.