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Philip Tong, as Tom Wingfield, and Kristin Lincoln, as Tom’s mother, Amanda Wingfield, rehearse for this weekend’s performances of “The Glass Menagerie,” the first show of the newly formed Gladish Players’ first full season.
Explaining her passion for theater, Gladish Centre for the Arts Executive Director Kristin Lincoln described a study that showed the heart rates of audience members falling into sync as they watched a live performance together.
That power of theater to bring people together has never been more essential, Linco ln said, which guided the formation of a new company, the Gladish Players, that brings Tennesese Williams’ “The Glass Menagerie” to the stage this weekend at the Gladish Community and Cultural Center in Pullman.
The play, which premiered in 1944, examines the lives of a single mother and her two adult children in 1937 St. Louis as they struggle through the aftermath of the Great Depression. The title comes from the daughter’s collection of glass figurines.
It’s a complex story with lessons for today, said Lincoln, who both performs in and co-directs the production. And though it isn’t staged as often as Williams’ “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” and “A Streetcar Named Desire,” it’s precisely the kind of theater the group aims to bring to the Palouse.
“At the heart of it, the Gladish Players is a group of people who are passionate about telling stories, about telling human stories,” she said.
Liesbeth Powers/Inland 360
Kristin Lincoln, left, as Amanda Wingfield, and Philip Tong, as Tom Wingfield, sit on the set of "The Glass Menagerie" during a recent run-through of the play at the Centre for the Arts at the Gladish Community and Cultural Center in Pullman.
Community theater on the Palouse comprises more than half a dozen groups, but establishing another one, Lincoln said, meant “adding to the theatrical tapestry, not taking away from it.”
It just made sense, she said, to create an in-residence theater company at the Gladish’s Centre For The Arts as fundraising continues for a $10 million project to update the facility, including performance spaces. Building an actor-based company designed to be a “next step” for community performers who want to further explore the art was ano ther goal.
“I don’t want people to think I’m coming out and saying we’re doing it better,” Lincoln said. “For us it’s about adding another layer.”
Liesbeth Powers/Inland 360
Aryn Vance, left, as Laura Wingfield, is wrapped in a “magic” scarf by Philip Tong, as Tom Wingfield, during a recent Gladish Players rehearsal for "The Glass Menagerie."
Lincoln, a Pullman High School, Spokane Falls Community College — Pullman and Washington State University graduate, has a long history with community theater, even starting a company, the Pullman Little Theatre, which ran for two summers in 2001-02.
She has been executive director for the Washington Idaho Symphony since 2018, started working with the Gladish in 2020 and was named executive director for its Centre for the Arts last year.
People might think a community theater company’s main competition would be other arts organizations, including theaters and musical groups, Lincoln said, but it’s more likely to be Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime — entertainment options that keep people home.
COVID-19 exacerbated that issue, but state and federal funding, local donors and a supportive community helped keep arts grou ps afloat through what she described as a “hard” and “scary” time.
“I hope the pandemic reminded people how important it is to be out in their communities,” she said. “I’m hoping it has sparked a new renaissance for community arts organizations.”
Liesbeth Powers/Inland 360
Justin Pfliger, left, as Jim O’Connor, and Aryn Vance, as Laura Wingfield, look down at the unicorn from Laura’s collection of glass figurines during a recent Gladish Players rehearsal.
The Gladish Players staged two productions last year, including Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” the first in a planned summer courtyard series set to continue in early September with “Romeo and Juliet.”
The company will focus both on classics, including works by Shakespeare, Williams and Anton Chekov, and new shows, such as the debut in July of a play written by “Menagerie” co-director Sam Opdahl.
Eventually, they’d like to see the company launch a playwright’s festival to highlight new works, Lincoln said. But for now the focus is on its first full season and this weekend’s show by one of her “all-time favorite playwrights.”
“It was the right piece to launch us, because I think it really shows what kind of compan y we’re going to be,” Opdahl said.
Lincoln plays the mother, Amanda, who sometimes is interpreted as a villain, but in whom she said she sees one dominating motivation: love.
“This is a family that loves each other deeply,” she said. “But they’re all struggling, they all have trauma.
“One of the things I love about ‘The Glass Menagerie’ — it doesn’t end the way you think it’s going to end. It ends with, ‘Well, what’s next?’ ” Lincoln said. “I think that’s ... that’s life.”
Stone (she/her) can be reached at mstone@inland360.com.
Liesbeth Powers/Inland 360
Kristin Lincoln, left, as Amanda Wingfield, and Philip Tong, as Tom Wingfield, sit on the set of "The Glass Menagerie" during a recent run-through of the play at the Centre for the Arts at the Gladish Community and Cultural Center in Pullman.
IF YOU GO
“The Glass Menagerie”
When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday.
Where: Center for the Arts, Gladish Community and Cultural Center, View Room, 115 NW State St., Pullman.
Tickets: $12 adults, $8 ages 12-18, free for college students and those younger than 12, at gladishcommunity.org/tickets or the Gladish box office.
Of note: The show is the first in the Gladish Players’ inaugural season. Doors open 30 minutes before each performance.
