The opening night for the performance “The Glass Menagerie” on the play by American playwright Tennessee Williams took place on the stage of Saratov Academic Kiselev Youth Theatre on June 10, 2008.

Saratov Kiselev Youth Theatre for the first time has staged Tennessee Williams, a famous American playwright, whose works are based on the conflict of the sensuous passions and aspiration for the perfection of soul. The prototype for the Wingfields in "The Glass Menagerie" (1945) was the playwright's own family: the strict hypercritical father, who blames his son for the lack of masculinity; the imperious mother, overanxious about family's social status, and the sister, suffering from depressions.

This is a story about family, about home. It's about how important one's family is, especially in the time of overall disruption and decay in the human relationships; we all need the people we can rely on. When in the outward things there is no love and apprehension, the escape to the dream fantasy world is often only one way of salvation from all the troubles and misfortunes. That's how the characters of Tennessee Williams live in their cozy fantasy worlds — Tom, who works for the shoe factory, writes poetry and dreams about becoming an adventurer, his sister Lora feels herself very comfortable only in the toy little world of the glass animals, their mother Amanda lives in the recollections and dreams of her children's happiness. In this coterie, where real life fades in comparison with illusion's world, they all are extremely lonely. How can we hear each other, how can we make our dearest ones to be happy - these are the questions the characters of our performance try to answer. The performance is staged by the creative group from USA: stage-director — Walter Schoen and production-designer — West Warwick Reed.
Actors:

Amanda Wingfield - a mother	Vovnenko Elena Vitalievna
Laura Wingfield - her daughter	Beskrovnaya Anastasiya Sergeevna
Tom Wingfield - her son	Chernyshev Alexey Nickolaevich
Jim O'Connor - the visitor	Krivega Alexey Vladimirovich