The Glass Menagerie (2022) - Programme

11 – 27 MARCH 2022

VICTORIA THEATRE

SEASON SPONSOR

STARRING

CATHERINE GRACE GARDNER JAMIL SHULZE

INCH CHUA

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR

SALIF HARDIE

SET DESIGNER

TIMOTHY KOH

EUCIEN CHIA

LIGHTING DESIGNER

PROJECTION DESIGNER

JAMES TAN

GENEVIEVE PECK

SOUND ARTIST & COMPOSER

COSTUME DESIGNER

JING NG (Ctrl Fre@k)

LEONARD AUGUSTINE CHOO

DIRECTED BY

TRACIE PANG PRODUCED BY

TRACIE PANG & ADRIAN PANG

VICTORIA THEATRE | 11 – 27 MARCH 2022 Presented by special arrangement with The University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee. _ The duration of this performance is approximately 2 hour and 30 minutes, with a 15 minutes interval

Williams’ The Glass Menagerie is a semi-autobiographical story set in a very specific time in American history, revolving around a quintessential working-class family from St Louis, Missouri, dealing with very particular struggles.

So, it is remarkable how, over three quarters of a century, this play has transcended its humble roots to be so passionately embraced by audiences across time, place and culture. Is it because of the beautiful lyricism of Williams’ language? Or the exquisitely tragic quixotism of the characters’ lives? Perhaps it is the subtle domestic nuances and profoundly life-altering events that coalesce into a perfectly constructed drama?

Yes, yes and yes - it is all of the above.

And then there’s the play’s sociopolitical landscape, which has had echoes globally through the decades.

Williams began writing in the 1930s, in the throes of the Great Depression, as an idealistic young man finding his voice in a voiceless generation.

By the time The Glass Menagerie debuted on Broadway in 1945, it was already something of a period piece, with Tom (the play’s narrator and Williams’ alter-ego) opening the play by “turning back time” to 1937, an era when “the huge middle class of America was matriculating in a school for the blind.

Their eyes had failed them, or they had failed their eyes, and so they were having their fingers pressed forcibly down on the fiery Braille alphabet of a dissolving economy”.

Such an astutely-articulated observation of universal human folly, and so uncannily prescient, with the life-changing global crisis we are all currently living through.

Tom continues: “In Spain there was revolution. Here there was only shouting and confusion. In Spain there was Guernica. Here there were disturbances of labor, in otherwise peaceful cities…” – a scenario that can easily be transposed to any number of international flashpoints in the last 75 years, and in the wake of Russia’s invasion on Ukraine, particularly resonant here and now.

But one significant reason this play still wields its haunting poignancy, is that it peers into the human soul through the haze of memory, to reveal so much that is fundamental and universal in the human experience: yearning, regret, heartbreak, wishful thinking, broken promises, false hopes, and dashed dreams. Looking through the prism of a delicate glass unicorn, we come face to face with a primordial instinct, revealing within each of us an unquenchable desire for something more, something else, some kind of “otherness” that we are all slaves to in one form or another - in Tom’s words, “the long-delayed but always expected something that we live for”.

Thank you, Tennessee Williams, for the gift of The Glass Menagerie, a timeless story of us all, for us all.

Many thanks also to our fabulous Season Sponsor DBS, the fantastic Alfa Tech, HCS Engineering Pte Ltd, and wonderful Storhub, for your continued faith in us. Our appreciation also to the U.S. Embassy Singapore for your support of this production, and our kick-ass Friends of Pangdemonium, especially our White Knights, the Diana Koh Foundation.

Much love to our gorgeous cast, for breathing new life to these iconic characters. Much gratitude to our brilliant Creative, Production, Technical and Stage Management Teams, and heartfelt thanks to the Pangdemonium tribe for being a true family through thick and thin.

And THANK YOU, dear audience, for your loyalty and love. In these challenging times, the fact that you have made the choice to gather in a communal space with a group of strangers, to share in the experience of live storytelling, means the world to us.

We wish you well, and hope you get something meaningful out of your time with us. _ PS: The Glass Menagerie has as its backdrop the carnage of the Spanish Civil War, and the threshold WW2.

This has alarming echoes today in the form of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The humanitarian crisis in Ukraine is worsening day by day, and we cannot turn a blind eye, or pretend to be insulated from it.

Please consider making a donation to help the people of Ukraine here.

Lots of love,

Adrian & Tracie Pang Artistic Directors

Artistic Directors’ Message

“Their eyes had failed them, or they had failed their eyes…”

The Life and Loves of Tennessee Williams “ Everything in his life is in his plays, and everything in his plays is in his life.”

Elia Kazan, director of many of Tennessee Williams’ plays

Thomas Lanier Williams III was born in Columbus, Mississippi, the second child of Cornelius Coffin “C. C.” Williams, a traveling shoe salesman and an alcoholic who was frequently absent; and Edwina Dakin, the daughter of a music teacher and an Episcopal priest.

He had an older sister Rose Isabel Williams, and younger brother Walter Dakin Williams.

As a young child Williams nearly died of diphtheria, leaving him weak and housebound during a year-long recuperation.

Partly as a result of this, he was less robust as a child than his father wished.

Williams Sr. had a violent temper, regarding what he thought was his son’s effeminacy with disdain. Edwina, locked in an unhappy marriage, focused her attention on her frail young son. Many critics and historians note that Williams drew from his own dysfunctional family in much of his writing.

From 1929 to 1931, Williams enrolled in journalism courses. Bored by these classes and distracted by unrequited love for a girl, he began submitting poems, essays, stories, and plays in writing contests, to earn extra income. #TheGlassMenagerieSG

At University of Missouri, Williams joined the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity, but he did not fit in with his fraternity brothers. After failing a military training course in his junior year, his father withdrew him from school and made him work at the International Shoe Company factory. Although Williams hated the monotony, the job forced him out of the gentility of his upbringing.

Hatred of his 9-to-5 routine drove Williams to write prodigiously. He set a goal of writing one story a week, often working on weekends and late into the night.

Overworked, unhappy, and lacking success with his writing, by his 24th birthday Williams had suffered a nervous breakdown and left his job.

He drew from memories of this period, and a particular factory co-worker, to create the character Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire. By the mid1930s his mother separated from his father due to his worsening alcoholism and abusive temper.

As Williams was struggling to gain an audience for his work in the late 1930s, he worked at a string of menial jobs, including a stint as caretaker on a chicken ranch.

In 1939, his play Battle of Angels was produced in Boston but was poorly received. Despite this, Williams spoke fondly of his early days as a playwright and an early collaborative play called Cairo, Shanghai, Bombay!, saying: “The laughter enchanted me. Then and there the theatre and I found each other for better and for worse. I know it’s the only thing that saved my life.” He soon adopted “Tennessee Williams” as his professional name.

During the winter of 1944–45, his memory play The Glass Menagerie, developed from his short story “Portrait of a Girl in Glass”, was produced in Chicago and garnered good reviews. It moved to New York, became an instant hit and enjoyed a long Broadway run, winning the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for the best play.

Between 1948 and 1959 Williams had seven plays produced on Broadway: Summer and Smoke (1948), The Rose Tattoo (1951), Camino Real(1953), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955), Orpheus Descending (1957), Garden District (1958), and Sweet Bird of Youth (1959). By 1959, he had earned two Pulitzer Prizes, three New York Drama Critics’ Circle Awards, three Donaldson Awards, and a Tony Award.

Throughout his life Williams remained close to his sister, Rose, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia as a young woman. In 1943, as her behaviour became increasingly disturbing, she was subjected to a lobotomy, and was institutionalized for the rest of her life. As soon as he was financially able, Williams moved Rose to a private institution, where he often visited her. He dedicated a percentage interest in several of his most successful plays toward her care.

The devastating effects of Rose’s illness may have contributed to Williams’ alcoholism and his dependence on various combinations of amphetamines and barbiturates.

After some early attempts at relationships with women, by the late 1930s Williams began exploring his homosexuality. In New York City, he joined a gay social circle, and in 1940 he initiated a relationship with Kip Kiernan, a young Canadian dancer. When Kiernan left him to marry a woman, Williams was distraught. Kiernan’s death four years later at age 26 was another heavy blow.

During the late 1940s and 50s, Williams travelled widely with Merlo, often spending summers in Europe.

But after his first decade and a half of extraordinary successes, he had more personal turmoil and theatrical failures in the 1960s and 1970s. Although he continued to write daily, the quality of his work suffered from his increasing alcohol and drug consumption, as well as occasional poor choices of collaborators.

The relationship with Merlo’s was the most enduring of Williams’ life, lasting 14 years until infidelities and drug abuse on both sides ended it. Shortly after their breakup, Merlo was diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer. Williams returned to him and cared for him until his death in 1963. Consumed by depression over the loss, and in and out of treatment facilities while under the control of his mother and brother Dakin, Williams spiralled downward.

His plays from then on were box office failures, critics and audiences failing to appreciate his new style and the approach to theatre he developed during the 1970s.

Williams descended into a period of nearly catatonic depression and increasing drug use, resulting in hospitalizations and commitments to mental health facilities. He was treated

by Dr. Max Jacobson – known popularly as Dr. Feelgood – who used increasing amounts of amphetamines to overcome his depression, combining these with prescriptions for the sedative Seconal to relieve his insomnia.

In the 1970s, when he was in his 60s, Williams had a lengthy relationship with Robert Carroll, a Vietnam veteran and aspiring writer in his 20s. Williams had deep affection for Carroll and respect for what he saw as the younger man’s talents. Along with Williams’ sister Rose, Carroll was one of the two people who received a bequest in Williams’ will. Williams described Carroll as a combination of “sweetness” and “beastliness”, who played on his “acute loneliness” as an aging gay man.

Tennessee Williams’ Life

The success of his next play, A Streetcar Named Desire, sealed his reputation as a great playwright in 1947.

When they broke up in 1979, Williams called Carroll a “twerp”, but they remained friends until Williams died four years later.

On February 25, 1983, Williams was found dead at age 71 in his suite at the Hotel Elysée in New York. He had apparently choked to death from inhaling the plastic cap of a bottle of the type that might contain a nasal spray or eye solution.

Williams left his literary rights to support a creative writing program at The University of the South in Tennessee, in honour of his maternal grandfather, Walter Dakin, an alumnus of the university.

Before Rose died in 1996 after many years in a mental institution, she bequeathed $7 million from her part of the Williams estate to The University of the South.

Williams then met and fell in love with Frank Merlo, an occasional actor and World War II Navy veteran. Merlo became his personal secretary, taking on most of the details of their domestic life, providing happiness and stability, and acting as a balance to Williams’ depression.

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The Legend of The Glass Menagerie The Glass Menagerie is an American classic which proved to be a defining moment for playwright Tennessee Williams — and for theatre history.

A “Memory Play” Williams coined the phrase to explain a ground-breaking new theatrical style. In his production notes, Williams wrote: “Being a ‘memory play’, The Glass Menagerie can be presented with unusual freedom of convention. Because of its considerably delicate or tenuous material, atmospheric touches and subtleties of direction play a particularly important part… Memory takes a lot of poetic license. It omits some details; others are exaggerated, according to the emotional value of the articles it touches, for memory is seated predominantly in the heart.”

The Glass Menagerie began as a Short Story In 1941 At 30, Williams wrote “Portrait of a Girl in Glass,” which centred on the glass figure-loving Laura, a desperately shy young woman with a fearsome mother, who went unnamed in this early incarnation. It became evident that Laura was based on his real-life sister Rose, with the mother figure fashioned after his own, and Tom was none other than Williams himself.

By 1943, Williams was in Hollywood, and transformed the short story into a spec script called The Gentleman Caller. After MGM Studios passed on the script, Williams reconceived it as a stage play in 1944. It made Williams an overnight success, eight years in the making. #TheGlassMenagerieSG

A Second Shot In Hollywood Williams left Hollywood smarting from the failure of The Gentleman Caller, and returned with a heralded Broadway hit. In 1950, The Glass Menagerie became his first produced screenplay. Although Williams imagined the great American actress Ethel Barrymore as Amanda, director Irving Rapper cast English comedienne Gertrude Lawrence in the Southern belle role.

The playwright later declared this a “dismal error.” The resulting film was ruthlessly panned.

Warner Bros. also wanted Williams to create a happy ending for the movie version. Against Williams’s wishes and behind his back, the studio reached out to screenwriter Peter Berneis to give them the happy ending they wanted. Berneis created a second suitor named Richard, reasoning that Laura’s tale could go from one of woe to inspiration. When Williams saw the final film, he dubbed it a “travesty.”

The play was adapted for television four times between 1964 and 1977, one version starring screen legend Katharine Hepburn as Amanda. In 1987, Paul Newman directed a lauded big-screen adaptation, with his wife Joanne Woodward in that coveted role. A young John Malkovich costarred as Tom, while Raiders of the Lost Ark’s Karen Allen played Laura.

The real-life Laura’s Unhappy Ending As a child, Tennessee’s older sister Rose was an extroverted girl of “good spirits,” but as she grew older, she became withdrawn and “nervous.”

She would eventually be diagnosed with schizophrenia. To cure Rose, her mother turned to a trendy medical procedure believed to work wonders, a prefrontal lobotomy. Sadly, the operation made matters worse. Rose spent the rest of her life in hospitals.

Williams wove elements of her tragic tale into a string of works beyond The Glass Menagerie and its earlier versions. Their shared childhood inspired the short story “The Resemblance Between a Violin Case and a Coffin”.

The strain Williams believed his sister felt between his mother’s Victorian standards and her own sexuality is explored in Summer and Smoke.

In Suddenly Last Summer, a cruel mother plots to have a young woman lobotomized for her own ends. And in A Streetcar Named Desire, the much-abused Blanche DuBois finally finds a bittersweet end, when she relies on the “kindness of strangers” to lead her away to an asylum.

The Legend of The Glass Menagerie

The rest of the World in 1937...

In The Glass Menagerie, the Wingfields live in their little bubble in 1937 St Louis, Missouri, cut off from the rest of the world. Amanda waxes nostalgic about a bygone world of glamour and romance; Tom yearns to escape his banal domesticity and live a life of adventure in the outside world that he has only dreamt about; while Laura is in selfisolation within the safety of her glass fortress.

In the rest of the US… Franklin D. Roosevelt was being sworn in as the President of the United States for a second term, as the country was in the grip of the Recession of 1937, a crucial period during the Great Depression.

The downturn of the American economy was due to last into most of 1938, with more than 7 million unemployed, industrial production declining almost 30%, and production of durable goods falling even faster.

The Great Depression worsened the already bleak economic situation of African Americans. They were the first to be laid off from their jobs, and they suffered from an unemployment rate two to three times that of whites.

In early public assistance programs African Americans often received substantially less aid than whites, and some charitable organizations’ soup kitchens even excluded Blacks, who were still commonly referred to by derogatory names now considered taboo.

Perhaps as means of escapism from real life, the first issue of Detective Comics was published in the US, and 27 issues later, introduced the world to Batman. The comic goes on to become the longest continually published comic magazine in American history.

That same year, Walt Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the first feature-length animated cartoon with sound, opened and became a smash hit.

The movie A Star Is Born is released, directed by William A. Wellman, and starring Janet Gaynor as an aspiring Hollywood actress, and Fredric March as a fading movie star who helps launch her career. The movie has since been remade four times.

This heated climate reached a boiling point on 30th May 1937, in the Memorial Day Massacre (one of the “disturbances of labour” that Tom references), in which the Chicago Police Department shot and killed ten unarmed steel-worker demonstrators. No policemen were ever prosecuted.

In that same month, the Hindenburg disaster horrified the world, when the airship burst into flames while mooring to a mast in Lakehurst, New Jersey. #TheGlassMenagerieSG

And as if to reflect the mood of austerity, the canned precooked meat product Spam was introduced by the Hormel company.

Meanwhile, in the rest of the world…

The Spanish Civil War was being fiercely fought. Republicans loyal to the leftist Second Spanish Republic, in alliance with communist and syndicalist anarchists, were fighting against a revolt by the Nationalists, an alliance of monarchists, conservatives and Catholics, led by a military group among whom General Francisco Franco soon achieved a major role. Due to the international political climate at the time, the war had many facets and was variously viewed as class struggle, a war of religion, a struggle between dictatorship and republican democracy, between revolution and counterrevolution, and between fascism and communism. It has been frequently called the “dress rehearsal” for World War II. The Nationalists eventually won the war, which ended in early 1939, and ruled Spain until Franco’s death in November 1975.

The “Guernica” that Tom refers to is the bombing of Guernica (26th April 1937), an aerial bombing of the Basque town of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War. It was carried out, at the behest of Franco’s rebel Nationalist faction, by its allies, the Nazi German Luftwaffe’s

Guernica quickly became a worldrenowned symbol of civilian suffering resulting from conflict and inspired Pablo Picasso to adapt one of his existing commissions into his famous painting “Guernica”. The Spanish Republican Government had commissioned a work from him for the Spanish pavilion at the Paris International Exposition. Though he accepted the invitation to display a piece, he remained uninspired until he heard of the bombing of Guernica.

Before the bombing of Guernica took place, Picasso never cared much for anything to do with politics. Once Picasso heard the news he changed his commissioned work for Spain into a reflection on the massacre.

Meanwhile, the newly appointed commander-in-chief of the German armed forces named Adolf Hitler, proclaimed that Nazi Germany “is too small to guarantee an undisturbed, assured, and permanent food supply.”

Further afield, the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, also known as Double-Seven Incident, was a July 1937 battle between China’s National Revolutionary Army and the Imperial Japanese Army, wherein a dispute between the troops escalated into a battle. It is widely considered to have been the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War, and by extension, sometimes given as an alternative starting date for World War II, as opposed to the more commonly-cited one of September 1939.

Between July 1937 and February 1938, the Japanese World War II offensive campaign continued in China. In December 1937, Japanese troops pillage the Chinese Nationalist capital of Nanking, murdering tens of thousands of civilians, in what will become known as the “Rape of Nanking”.

In response to these international rumblings, President Roosevelt gave his famous Quarantine Speech on 5th October, 1937, calling for an international “quarantine” against the “epidemic of world lawlessness” by aggressive nations as an alternative to the political climate of American neutrality and non-intervention that was prevalent at the time. The speech intensified America’s isolationist mood, causing protest by non-interventionists and foes to intervene.

No countries were directly mentioned in the speech, although it was interpreted as referring to the Empire of Japan, the Kingdom of Italy, and Nazi Germany.

Roosevelt suggested the use of economic pressure, a forceful response, but less direct than outright aggression.

And in Singapore…

Kallang Airport, the first purposebuilt civil international airport in Singapore, opened on 12th June 1937.

The World in 1937...

Condor Legion and the Fascist Italian Aviazione Legionaria, under the code name ‘Operation Rügen’. The operation opened the way to Franco’s capture of Bilbao and his victory in northern Spain.

The attack gained controversy because it involved the bombing of civilians by a military air force. Seen as a war crime by some historians, and argued as a legitimate attack by others, it was one of the first aerial bombings to capture global attention.

The above-mentioned DoubleSeven Incident between Japanese and Chinese troops, and the “Rape of Nanking” had ripple effects in Singapore, escalating the controversial hua chi’ao nationalist movement amongst Singapore Chinese.

Meanwhile, Lieutenant General Sir William George Shedden Dobbie, governor of Singapore and General Officer Commanding (Malaya), had assigned Lieutenant-General Arthur Ernest Percival, the task of drawing up a tactical appraisal of Singapore’s military security. Percival’s report in late 1937 confirmed that north Malaya was a likely vantage point for an attack on Singapore.

Dobbie and Percival made it known that Singapore could no longer be seen as a self-contained naval base, and that its survival rested on the defence of mainland Malaya. On top of this, Dobbie was convinced that the monsoon months would provide good cloud cover for invaders.

This became known as The Dobbie Hypothesis on the Fall of Singapore which - had it been heeded - many believe may have prevented the fall of Singapore to Japanese forces during the Second World War. The rest, as they say, is history.

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Cast of The Glass Menagerie Catherine Grace Gardner Amanda Wingfield

Catherine Grace Gardner began her professional career in show business at age 9 with her debut on the popular American television series, Law and Order. With a passion for the stage, she has performed in several theatre productions, including the National Broadway tour of Annie Get Your Gun, and many others such as Annie and Fiddler on the Roof. Television credits include guest starring roles on critically acclaimed primetime television series’ such as NYPD Blue and Third Watch.

Catherine is most commonly known for portraying “Rosa Santos” on the long running American soap opera, All My Children. Catherine has also been cast in national commercials and independent films in the USA. A talented singer who has performed at notable venues for esteemed dignitaries, she shares her talent to raise funds and awareness for charities including Broadway Cares, has hosted numerous Variety Club Telethons and performed for many other non-profit organisations, including MINDS, where former President Tony Tan was the chief guest. She especially enjoys performing Cabaret and Broadway show tunes. Catherine holds the position of Creative Artistic Director of Cosmos Global Resources in Singapore and has edited several books. Catherine is a proud member of SAG-AFTRA and was selected as a nominating committee member for the SAG Awards.

Catherine has a passion for travel, a desire to experience different cultures, enjoys literature and the culinary arts. #TheGlassMenagerieSG

Inch Chua Laura Wingfield

Born in Singapore, educated in Fine-arts, and inducted into the music industry in Los Angeles, Inch has made a career as an international award-winning recording and performing artist.

Her passion for the arts, wild places, and technology has led her to play at numerous festivals around the world and to experiment in a variety of art forms.

An appreciator of good gin, random animal factoids and video games, Inch is a recipient of the National Youth Award in 2018 for her contributions in the arts and was recently awarded Best Sound at the 2020 LIFE! Theatre Awards for her multisensory theatrical music production in ‘Til The End Of The World, We’ll Meet In No Man’s Land.

She is currently based in Singapore with her three cats and nursery of overwatered plants.

Cast of The Glass Menagerie

Jamil Schulze Tom Wingfield

Jamil Schulze (he/him) is an actor, writer, and occasional #bedroommusician (@jamil.s.schulze). An acting graduate of the BA (Hons) Acting Program at LASALLE College of the Arts, selected theatre credits include; Permanence (Toy Factory); Lifespan of a Fact (Singapore Repertory Theatre); Dragonflies, This Is What Happens to Pretty Girls, and The Mother (Pangdemonium). The Glass Menagerie is Jamil’s fourth collaboration with Pangdemonium. Jamil can also be seen in TV series such as Reunion and Nightwatchers, all streaming on MeWatch; and he has lent his voice to the animated series How To Train Your Hooman and an upcoming audio-play The Mercenário and The Pahlawan.

He is a core member of Nusantara Theatrical Combat (@nusantaratheatricalcombat), serving as consultant and creativecollaborator; and is closely involved with TableMinis (@tableminis), where he explores story-telling, immersion, and transformation through role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons.

He has recently completed the stunt choreography Mentorship Programme with Sandbox Training Ground (@ sandboxtrainingground), and is undergoing certification in Intimacy Coordination and Direction.

Salif Hardie Jim O’Connor

Salif Hardie is a Singaporean-born actor of Malay and Australian descent.

He started his career at the young age of 13, acting for both stage and screen.

Since completing his BA (Hons) in Acting at Lasalle College of the Arts, Salif continues to be a part of the industry working with major Singaporean theatre companies as well as in dozens of contract and recurring roles for daytime and primetime TV. Local credits include, Johari in S.P.Y and Najip in Dualiti (Suria 2022), Johan in Azam & Johan (Suria, 2020), Dr Ashraff in Kin (Channel 5) and Prentiss in Peter & the Starcatcher (Pangdemonium, 2018).

International credits include: HBO’s Westworld Season 3 (2020) and Xalisco, a place... (Festival Internacional Cervantino, 2019).

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Creative Team of The Glass Menagerie Tracie Pang

Tennessee Williams

Director

Playwright

Tracie trained at Croydon College, London, and has clocked up more than 25 years working in theatre throughout the UK and Asia. In Singapore, she set up The Little Company, for whom she wrote and directed numerous productions for children aged 3–14. She was Associate Artistic Director for Singapore Repertory Theatre from 2006-2010.

Born Thomas Lanier Williams III in 1911 in Columbus, Mississippi, Tennessee Williams’ grandfather was an Episcopal clergyman.

In 2010 Tracie founded Pangdemonium Theatre Company with her husband Adrian. At the Straits Times Life Theatre Awards, she won the Best Director Award for Pangdemonium’s Falling, and received nominations for Pangdemonium’s The Full Monty; Dealer’s Choice; Rabbit Hole; Next to Normal; Fat Pig; Tribes and Dragonflies, and also for SRT’s The Dresser; The Snow Queen and The Pillowman.

Other productions she has directed for Pangdemonium include Closer; Spring Awakening; Swimming with Sharks; Gruesome Playground Injuries; The Rise & Fall of Little Voice; Frozen; Circle Mirror Transformation; Chinglish; The Effect; Rent, The Pillowman, Tango, Fun Home, The Father, Peter and the Starcatcher, Late Company, This is What Happens to Pretty Girls, Urinetown: The Musical, The Son, Girls & Boys, The Mother.

Tracie was awarded the 2015 AWA International Woman of the Year for The Arts, and the 2017 Women’s Weekly “Great Women of our Time” Award for Media and the Arts.

#TheGlassMenagerieSG

When his father, a travelling salesman, moved with his family to St Louis some years later, both he and his sister found it impossible to settle down to city life. He entered college during the Depression and left after a couple of years to take a clerical job in a shoe company. He stayed there for two years, spending the evenings writing.

He entered the University of Iowa in 1938 and completed his course, at the same time holding a large number of part-time jobs of great diversity. He received a Rockefeller fellowship in 1940 for his play Battle of Angels, and he won the Pulitzer Prize in 1948 for A Streetcar Named Desire, and in 1955 For Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

Other plays include Summer and Smoke, The Rose Tattoo, Camino Real, Baby Doll, The Glass Menagerie, Orpheus Descending, Suddenly Last Summer, The Night Of The Iguana, Sweet Bird Of Youth, and The TwoCharacter Play. Tennessee Williams died in 1983.

Timothy Koh Assistant Director

Timothy Koh has worked in New York City, where he has Assistant Directed at Lincoln Center Theater, held a Fellowship at Playwrights Horizons, and directed thesis plays at New York University’s Graduate Department of Dramatic Writing. Other US experience includes work with Scott Rudin Productions, the Lucille Lortel Awards, Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, and Stay Awake! Theatre.

He is currently the Associate Director of Pangdemonium, where he helms the New Works Lab and the Very Youthful Company. Last year, he was Assistant Director on The Mother. He will be directing the second show of Pangdemonium’s 2022 season, Muswell Hill.

Training: New York University (BFA Theatre, BA English and American Literature).

Lighting Designer

Eucien Chia Set Designer

The Glass Menagerie is Eucien’s fifteenth production with Pangdemonium, following his recent set designs for The Mother, Urinetown, This is What Happens to Pretty Girls, and The Father. Previous collaborations with Pangdemonium include The Pillowman, RENT, Fat Pig, Frozen, and Chinglish.

His work on Pangdemonium’s musicals Little Voice and Spring Awakening both received nominations for Best Set Design at the ST Life! Theatre Awards.

Selected productions: The Commission (SIFA); La Cage Aux Folles (2017), Boeing Boeing (2017), A $ingapore Carol, The Emperor’s New Clothes (Wild Rice); A Good Death (Esplanade Studios); Normal (Checkpoint); H is for Hantu (STAGES); Sing To The Dawn (I Theatre); Awards: ST Life! Theatre Awards Best Set Design winner for Company (Dream Academy); December Rains (Toy Factory); and Dealer’s Choice (Pangdemonium) Eucien thanks God for his amazing family.

James Tan (Pangdemonium’s Associate Artist/ Independent Lighting Designer) was conferred The Young Artist Award and awarded Arts Professional Scholarship by The National Arts Council of Singapore. Master of Fine Arts in Lighting Design, UC San Diego.

James leads the Pangdemonium Lighting Apprenticeship Programme – giving an intermediate level lighting individual an exclusive opportunity to further develop their craft with the company. He was also recently invited by ETC (Electronic Theatre Consoles Inc.) to be a mentor with The International Fred Foster Student Mentorship Program, assisting lighting design and technology students make the transition into the professional working environment.

Selected Theatre Lighting Design Credits: Dragonflies & Next to Normal (Pangdemonium), Merdeka & Public Enemy (W!ld Rice), Disgraced & Hello Goodbye (Singapore Repertory Theatre), Red (Blank Space Theatre in collaboration with Esplanade – Theatres On The Bay) and Lord of the Flies (Blank Space Theatre with Sightline Productions). Selected Events Lighting Design: From Singapore to Singaporean: The Bicentennial Experience (Singapore Bicentennial Office), OCBC Garden Rhapsody: Rainforest Orchestra – Asia & Australia Edition (Gardens

By The Bay) & The Art of the Brick® Exhibition by Nathan Sawaya (MBS ArtScience Museum). International & Regional Tour: Relatively Speaking (The British Theatre Playhouse) & God of Carnage (Singapore Repertory Theatre). Selected Public Artwork: Yellow (Public Art Trust - Rewritten: The World Ahead of Us).

Creative Team of The Glass Menagerie

James Tan

Genevieve Peck Projection Designer

Genevieve graduated from The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, London with a BA(Hons) in Theatre Practice, specialising in Lighting and Projection/Video Design.

Design credits include Tango, The Effect (Pangdemonium), Lungs, The Sound Inside, The Lifespan of a Fact (Singapore Repertory Theatre), A $ingapore Carol (Wild Rice), The Commission (Pangdemonium, SRT & Wild Rice), Between You and Me, Lear is Dead, Art Studio (Nine Years Theatre), Both Sides Now 2019, Missing, With Time (Drama Box), Four Horse Road, I Came At Last To The Seas, Lao Jiu 2017, Liao Zhai Rocks 2016, If There’re Seasons 2014 (The Theatre Practice), ASEAN Para Games 2015 Opening and Closing Ceremonies (Philbeat Pte Ltd)

Jing Ng (Ctrl Fre@k) Sound Artist & Composer

Awarded the National Arts Council Scholarship, Jing graduated with first class honours from Rose Bruford College (UK) specialising in Performance Sound.

Having designed for various companies and productions over 10 years of practice, he aspires to provide a wholesome sonic experience for the audience - what, why and how you listen through a live performance. Nominated for Best Sound Design in the 2018 Singapore Straits Times Life Theatre Awards for Dragonflies (Pangdemonium Theatre Company Ltd).

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Creative Team of The Glass Menagerie Leonard Augustine Choo Costume Designer

Leonard is an international costume designer, fashion consultant, educator, and bespoke maker currently based in Singapore. He designs costumes for dance, opera, theatre, and film, and was the principal fabric shopper for the costume department of the New York City Ballet for 12 seasons, working on over 75 unique ballets.

Design credits include: The Son, Urinetown, This is What Happens to Pretty Girls, Late Company (Pangdemonium); Guards at the Taj, Gretel & Hansel, The Truth (Singapore Repertory); iSing International Opera Festival (Suzhou, China); American Ballet Theatre Fall 2018 Campaign Video, Moulin Rouge Commercial Spot (Ezra Hurwitz); Forest Boy (NY Musical Theatre Festival); Imagining Madoff, Pattern of Life (New Repertory Theater), Don Giovanni (BU Opera Institute and Huntington Theatre), and House (Boston Center for American Performance).

Leonard has done work for the Juilliard School, the television shows Gotham (FOX) and Crashing (HBO), TransSiberian Orchestra, Ballet Academy East (New York), Barrington Stage Company, and Opera Omaha, and has lectured at the Arkansas Arts Center, National Library, and Lasalle College of the Arts.

Holding Master in Fine Arts from Boston University, Leonard was the first and only costume designer awarded the Singapore National Arts Council Overseas Arts Scholarship in 2011.

He is currently Director of Industry Development & Engagement at Textile and Fashion Federation Singapore. #TheGlassMenagerieSG

Ashley Lim Hair Designer

Ashley started his hairstyling career in 1986 and set up Ashley Salon in 1999 to further pursue his dedication towards the art of hairdressing, especially for the theatre. Since 1987, he has worked on over 300 productions locally and abroad.

He is privileged to be widely recognised by the local theatre community as a veteran in his artistry. Some of Ashley’s most memorable creations include his headpieces for Forbidden City and Monkey Goes West. Recent credits include The Great Wall;SRT’s Forbidden City; Michael Chiang’s Army Daze 2; W!LD RICE’s Boeing Boeing, La Cage Aux Folles and HOTEL; The Theatre Practice’s Liao Zhai Rocks! and Dream Academy’s Broadway Beng: 10th Anniversary Concert and the reason Kumar50 , Liu San Jie , Hua Yi. He recently took home the Lifetime Achievement Award for Theatre, presented by Mediacorp.

The University of the South, a national ranked liberal arts college and Episcopal seminary, is the beneficiary of the Tennessee Williams’ estate, including the copyrights to all his works. This gift was made as a memorial to Williams’ grandfather, the Reverend Walter E. Dakin, who studied at the University’s seminary in 1895.

The Walter E. Dakin Memorial Fund is used to support the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, the Sewanee Young Writers’ Conference, and the School of Letters. The Fund also supports scholarships for students who wish to pursue creative writing and fellowships which are granted annually to budding playwrights or authors. Those fellows include Ann Patchett, Claire Messud, Tony Early, and Mark Richard.

The Tennessee Williams Center houses the University’s theater department, and a portion of the Fund supports the department and its theatrical productions.

Visit www.sewanee.edu for more information.

Cast CATHERINE GRACE GARDNER Amanda Wingfield JAMIL SCHULZE Tom Wingfield INCH CHUA Laura Wingfield SALIF HARDIE Jim O’Connor

Creative Team TRACIE PANG Director TENNESSEE WILLIAMS Playwright TIMOTHY KOH Assistant Director EUCIEN CHIA Set Designer GRACE LIN Assistant Set Designer JAMES TAN Lighting Designer GENEVIEVE PECK Projection Designer JING NG (CTRL FRE@K) Sound Artist & Composer CTRL FRE@K Production Sound Design LEONARD AUGUSTINE CHOO Costume Designer ASHLEY LIM Hair Designer CHERYLYNN POH Make-up Designer

Production Team of The Glass Menagerie

Production Team of The Glass Menagerie Production & Stage Management Team CAT ANDRADE Stage Manager CHANTEL GOH Assistant Stage Manager MARILYN CHEW Assistant Stage Manager OOPS & UNDO Technical Managers CHAN LEE LEE Props Master TAN JIA HUI Costume Coordinator NURHIDAYAH MAHADI Dresser TABBY KOH Dresser MICHELLE WAI Hair Assistant ELIM LEW (CTRL FRE@K) Sound Operator TAN YI KAI Projection Operator AMIRUL AZMI Lighting Apprentice IAN LEE Technical Management Apprentice

Special Thanks ANDY BENJAMIN CAI NIKHITA GANESH JURAIDAH RAHMAN FAE TAN

Pangdemonium Board

Pangdemonium Team TRACIE PANG Artistic Director/ Managing Director ADRIAN PANG Artistic Director/ Producer KIMBERLY WONG Company Manager TIMOTHY KOH Associate Director CRISPIAN CHAN Creative Director/IT KRISTAL ZHOU Marketing Manager JASPER LIM Creative Designer LEAH SIM Production Manager SUNITHA NAYAR Production Manager CAT ANDRADE Company Stage Manager KUSUM SANDHU Sales & Ticketing Manager GUILLAUME VAUTRIN Accounting Manager GUINEVIERE LOW Company Administrator IZZAH KHAIRINA Ticketing & Marketing Assistant RAKIN SHAMIL B RIZAL Ticketing Assistant JAMES TAN Associate Artist

RAEZA IBRAHIM AUN KOH TAN KHENG HUA JOHN CURRIE DEBBIE ANDRADE TRACIE PANG ADRIAN PANG Page 15 – 16

Education and Outreach A major component of Pangdemonium’s mission is to nurture aspiring artists and theatre practitioners. We want to provide opportunities for emerging talents to work with, and learn from industry professionals, in a challenging and inspiring environment.

With this very practical as well as instructive series of specialised workshops and masterclasses in various theatre disciplines, we aim to reach out to the community, fuel the creative instincts of young minds, cultivate the passion for the art of story-telling on stage, and share hands-on experience in the craft of theatre making.

Triple Threats Musical Theatre Workshop Our long-running Triple Threats Musical Theatre Workshop is designed for youths aged 13 to 19, who are interested in the art of musical theatre.

The programme aims to impart the fundamentals of storytelling through music, expression through song, vocal instruction and movement culminating in a special showcase.

After a two-year hiatus, Triple Threats will be back in June 2022!

Our alumni have gone on to programmes in LASALLE and made their professional debut in shows like Fun Home and The Great Wall Musical.

#TheGlassMenagerieSG

Very Youthful Company The Very Youthful Company (VYC) represents our youth wing, where theatre-makers aged 14-19 form a company and perform a fully-staged play. They act, stage manage, and design aspects of the show under the guidance of our Pangdemonium team.

VYC’s inaugural production was Chatroom by Enda Walsh, staged last year at the Drama Centre Black Box. The program is scheduled to return in the final months of 2022.

Information about auditions will be made available soon.

Education and Outreach

Technical Apprenticeships Our Technical Apprenticeship programme offers a full-time, production-long, professional experience for highly motivated and committed individuals who are looking to bridge the gap between their academic experience and a professional career in theatre. We offer apprenticeships in Stage Management, Production Management, Technical Management, as well as an exclusive programme in Lighting Design.

Stage Management

Production Management

Apprentices work with our professional stage management teams from pre-production through final performance.

Apprentices work with our full-time production management staff.

In the process, they will have the opportunity to maintain paperwork, take line notes, be on book, preset and run shows, among other duties.

Production management has the critical role of keeping a production running smoothly from conceptualisation through rehearsals, set-up, performances and eventually strike and archival.

Stage management apprentices are required to attend daytime rehearsals and become an active running crew member during evening performances.

Apprentices will assist the production management team in coordinating the various production disciplines – scenic, lighting, wardrobe, sound, multimedia projection, stage management.

Technical Management

Production management apprentices are required to fulfil office hours in the department as well as attend to the needs of the production during performances.

Apprentices will have the opportunity to work with our professional Technical Management team and Creative team. The apprentice will gain hands on experience working with professionals in the industry from pre to post production.

This is a 24 month apprenticeship programme for all young professionals interested in technical management.

Dates and hours will be determined by the needs of each production.

Lighting Design This is a twelve month apprenticeship that will give a intermediate-level lighting-specialized individual an exclusive opportunity to further develop their craft under the mentorship of Pangdemonium’s Associate Artist, James Tan. Dates and hours will be determined by the needs of each production.

James Tan is an established Singaporean Lighting Designer. He holds a Master of Fine Arts in Lighting Design from UC San Diego. James recognizes the significance of mentorship for young aspiring lighting professionals. James was conferred The Young Artist Award and awarded Arts Professional Scholarship by The National Arts Council of Singapore.

We’re looking for early-career professionals who meet the following qualifications: • •

• • •

•

Have some previous theatre training and skills.

Exhibit a strong drive to work in this field (relevant academic qualifications are a plus, but not a requirement).

Are over 18 years old.

Are willing to clock irregular working hours.

Can commit for the length of the production (depending on individual apprenticeships, may be anything from 2 to 6 months).

Word processing and spreadsheet experience is also required.

Admission by interview only. For enquiries, please email us at education@pangdemonium.com.

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Thank you for being our Friends!

White Knights Diana Koh Foundation

Winged Crusaders Anthonia Hui & Leonardo Drago The Grace, Shua Jacob Ballas II Charitable Trust Holywell Foundation

Crusaders Jacqueline Ho, Esq Valerie Uy Velasco

Superheroes Conrad & Andrea Lim Desmond & May Lim Harris Zaidi Ong Yu En Prof.Tommy Koh Roopa Dewan Russell Heng

#TheGlassMenagerieSG

Heroes Anonymous Anonymous Anonymous Dr Irene Lim & Prof David Stringer Ferdinand de Bakker Heng Gek Hwah James & Rebecca Orme John Currie & Hong Sun Chee Katherine Krummert & Shawn Galey Laurence Lien Michelle Sassoon Oh Jen Jen Ronald Gwee SL Chan Suzanne Lim Sze Wei Goh Toh Wei Seng Veronica Hong and Edward Ion

Champions Aileen Tang Alan F Quadros Alvin & Christina Liew Angela Wu Anjali G Singh Anonymous Anonymous Audrey Chng

Avalon Shipbrokers Pte. Ltd. Catherine Cheung & Elvin Too David Neo Dianne Hummal Dirk van Motman Dr Serene Ng Dr Tan Eng Thye Jason Duncan Kauffman Goh Kok Wee Gretchen Liu Han Jok Kwang Jake, Ta & Sasithon Jacobs Kang Mei Ling Kevin & Dina Coppel Khoo Teng Seen Leslie Lee LEWIS Lim Mingcheng Luke Bradshaw Mary Ann Tear Melanie Tan Michelle & Manish Bhatia Novus Ferro Pte Ltd Pang Siu Mei Pong Xiu Li Richard Lingner Robin Arnold Ronald & Janet Stride Seow Kim Seng Steve Miller & Pat Meyer Suzanne Liau Trisha Chan Vivien Chia Yap Su-Yin Yvonne Soh Yvonne Tham

Ajit R Nayak Andrew Lim Ang Siew Hui & Hock Tan Antonio Castellano Audrey Phua Brian Selby & Angelina Chang Carla R Forbes-Kelly Cassandra Ronald Cherilyn Chia Chia Sheng-Kai Chia Yu Hsien & Linda Lim Chiming Ngu Christopher Pang Clara Goh & Vincent Tan Dominik von Wantoch-Rekowski Dr Christopher Chen Elissa Oh Elizabeth Mariko Gomez Faye Kwan Foo Yee Ling Grace Chiam Gregory Tan Hui Boon Tng Hwee Suan Ong Indra Genevieve Thilainathan Jason Tan Choon Chin Joee Ng Jorin Ng Khoo Swee Koon Koh Woon Teng & Alan Ng Koo Kai Siong Lee Eng Hin & Saralee Turner Lim Lay Keow Loh Sun Hui Lone Lee Mahita Geekie Maryanne Gul Matthew Flaherty Maurice de Vaz Mayer Tung Nithia Devan

Ong Pei San Paul Ong Pierre Colignon PS & KF Rajesh Achanta Rebecca Yeoh Richard Hartung Ronald JJ Wong Sandra Gwee Sardool Singh Sehr & Ashnil Dixit Selina Chong Silver Rita Elaine Stephanie Chung Susan Sim Tan Lijun Tan Pei Shan Teo Kien Boon Vidula Verma Yap Zhi Jia Yichun Ng Yue Han Zhuo

Thank You for Being our Friends!

Pangdemaniacs

– We would like to express our sincere thanks to our new Friends who made their kind donations after this list went online.

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Become a Friend of Pangdemonium!

Join our philanthropic friends and help us tell the stories that are inspiring, relevant and accessible for the young and young-at-heart.

At Pangdemonium, we believe in staging productions that have a global resonance and universal significance will help to foster a resilient and compassionate society.

Your support will not only go towards bringing stories to the stage, but also giving opportunities to our theatre practitioners as well as nurturing the next generation of artists and audiences.

You will be the first to hear about our latest projects, meet other like-minded patrons at receptions, receive complimentary premium seats, enjoy backstage tours, and much more!

It is only with the support of everyone where words can be brought to life, to build a theatre that empowers, stimulates and inspires.

– Pangdemonium is a registered charity with IPC status and your cash donation is eligible for 250% tax deduction.

Donate today at donate.pangdemonium.com.

For more information on joining our Friends of Pangdemonium programme, please contact us at fundraiser@pangdemonium.com.

#TheGlassMenagerieSG

At Pangdemonium, we are able to continue doing the work we do because our corporate partners believe in us.

For the past decade, Pangdemonium has shared the power of live storytelling with audiences from all walks of life. Even during unusual and challenging times, we continue to tell these stories.

And we are extremely grateful to companies like Alfa Tech and HCS Engineering, for standing with us in solidarity, and coming on this journey with us as corporate donors.

Corporate support is crucial in helping Pangdemonium fulfill our mission, by assisting in our day-today operations, keeping our high production values, and funding our education and outreach programmes.

Support Us

Corporate Giving – Strengthening Our Community In appreciation of your generosity, Corporate Donors will get to enjoy exclusive opportunities – from being able to demonstrate your commitment to the arts and the theatre community, to connecting with clients and as an organization over meaningful experiences, increasing brand engagement, and achieving your organisation’s philanthropic and community outreach goals.

Corporate giving strengthens our community, and we welcome your solidarity and support, however great or small.

– Pangdemonium Theatre Company Ltd is a registered charity with IPC status (Registration no.: 201229915M) and all cash donations are eligible for a 250% tax deduction.

Consider making an online gift today at donate.pangdemonium.com or contact our Philanthropy team at fundraiser@pangdemonium.com.

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Tracie and Adrian would like to say a big thank you to the following for creating further pangdemonium with us on our production of The Glass Menagerie.

SEASON SPONSOR

SUPPORTED BY

OFFICIAL STORAGE PARTNER

SPECIAL THANKS TO

HCS ENGINEERING PTE LTD

Pangdemonium Theatre Company Ltd is a recipient of support from the National Arts Council’s Major Company Scheme for the period 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2023 #TheGlassMenagerieSG

TICKETS ON SALE IN MAY

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So intelligent, it gets you like no one else can.

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Order meals. Enjoy.

Book ride home.

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Pangdemonium Theatre Company Ltd is a registered charity with IPC status.

Registration number: 201229915M Pangdemonium Theatre Company Ltd is a recipient of support from the National Arts Council’s Major Company Scheme for the period 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2023