"Taya Dixon, who portrays Laura in Bag&Baggage's upcoming production of The Glass Menagerie, sees more than sadness in Tennessee Williams' 1945 classic work. Directed by Nik Whitcomb, who was eager to add new layers to the play without making big changes to the script, the production portrays a family that fights a lot but also feels genuine affection for each other. As Dixon said over Zoom last week, "We've tried really hard to bake a lot of love into it.""
"In his notes for the play, he wrote that Laura "is like a piece of her own glass collection, too exquisitely fragile to move from the shelf." Because of a childhood illness, she walks with a limp, and she's terrified of new people and new experiences, yet lives with a mother, who expects her to be a Southern belle, entertaining a string of "gentlemen callers.""
Nik Whitcomb directs The Glass Menagerie with subtle new layers while preserving the original script. The production portrays a family that fights frequently yet expresses genuine affection. Laura is modeled on Tennessee Williams' sister Rose, who was lobotomized; the character is described as exquisitely fragile like a glass collection and walks with a limp after childhood illness. Taya Dixon brings her lived experience as a plus-sized Indigenous woman to the role, connecting Laura's anxiety and social difficulty to embodied identities and adding depth and strength. The company seeks to infuse the staging with palpable love. Samuel Campbell, playing Tom, is also Indigenous, creating common ground between the siblings.
Read at Oregon ArtsWatch * Arts & Culture News
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