USI Theatre opens 2016-2017 season with The Glass Menagerie

University of Southern Indiana Theatre will open it's 2016-17 season with The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams. The production, directed by Elliot Wasserman, professor of theatre, runs October 13-16 in the USI Performance Center located next to University Center East on the USI campus.

Set primarily in the 1930s near the end of the Depression, this classic play concerns the family struggle of its main character, Tom Wingfield, who feels trapped into taking care of his demanding mother Amanda and his distressed and handicapped sister Laura. Tom desperately seeks an escape from his depressing job in a shoe factory so that he can live a life of adventure as a Merchant Mariner and gain experience as a writer. Fearing that she may lose Tom's support, Amanda pressures him to find his own replacement in the form of a marriageable man for Laura. The dramatic outcome of Tom's efforts to both free himself and help his family is the subject of this play, one of the 20th Century's great American masterpieces.

Wasserman will be joined by a design team including USI faculty member Paul Weimer as scenic designer; USI staff member Kevin Gray as sound designer; and USI students Rachel Thomas as lighting designer, John Merritt as costume designer, and Breanna Rutz as production stage manager.

The cast includes USI students Sam Garrison as Tom, Tamarea Kramer as Laura, Ashleigh Dulik as Amanda and Austin Tenbarge as Jim.

Tickets are $7 for USI students, $12 for adults, $10 for USI employees, seniors (60+) and non-USI students. Shows start at 7 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 2 p.m. for the Sunday matinee. To purchase tickets or for more information, visit USI.edu/theatre or call the box office at 812-465-1668. Follow on Facebook at USITheatre and on Twitter @TheatreUSI for updates and photos.

The 2016-2017 season will continue with a student directed production, In the Red and Brown Water, directed by Tarell Alvin McCraney, running October 27-29. USI Theatre's next mainstage performance will be Mr. Burns, a post-electric play running November 17-20. The spring productions include Crumbs from the Table of Joy by Lynn Nottage running February 16-19, 2017 and Little Women: The Broadway Musical with book by Allan Knee, music by Jason Howland, lyrics by Mindi Dickstein, based on the novel by Louisa May Alcott, as the co-production of New Harmony Theatre and USI Theatre running April 20-23. Tickets for all upcoming productions are on sale now.