2nd Event - The Glass Menagerie

The Glass Menagerie was put on at the Playmakers theater on campus. Tom, Amanda, Jim and Laura are the four main characters in the play played by Ray Dooley/John Tufts, Judith-Marie Bergan, John Brummer, and Marianne Miller respectively. Tom has a low paying job in factory and wants to get out of town but can't because he has to support his mother Amanda and his disabled sister Laura. Amanda continuously reminds Laura of the importance of courting and finding a man. Amanda asks Tom to find a man for Laura and Tom brings home a friend from work Jim, a boy Laura had a huge crush on in high school. Jim used to call Laura blue roses. Laura is playing with her glass figurines or her glass menagerie when Jim comes in to talk to her, they begin to hit it off and dance. Laura's favorite glass figurine, her unicorn, gets the horn broken off and it is no longer "unique" so she gives it to Jim. Jim kisses her but freaks out because he actually has a fiance. Laura is heartbroken and Amanda gets mad and blames the whole ordeal on Tom. Tom ends up leaving.
This was the first play that I have attended here on campus and it was interesting to see that in the audience there were actually not that many students in attendance. I observed a lot of older individuals in the audience. Looking back, i see this older group who attend plays as their own microculture of Chapel Hill. Also, when reading through the playbook before the play it was interesting to read about the background of the actors and actresses. The man who plays Jim in the play, John Brummer, is actually a student in the Professional Actor Training Program here at Chapel Hill and the man who plays older Tom, Ray Dooley, is actually a professor here in the Department of Dramatic Art. I have been to many broadway plays before and this play was put on very well. As a student, I would definitely see another play or performance here at Chapel Hill in order to broaden my educational experience.