Play Guide [1.2MB PDF] - Arizona Theatre Company

The Glass Menagerie
Related Assignments for Post-Performance
(Based on the Theatre Arts and Language Arts State Standards)
Playwriting, Acting, and Visual Art Lesson Plan
Exploring the Memory Play
The following activities are based on the play The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams.
Williams drew inspiration from his own life to write the play, and the characters are
loosely based on his own family. The Glass Menagerie is also a “memory” play, which is
a term used to describe a non-linear structural pattern used in modern American drama.
Memory plays tend to employ the use of a narrator who directly addresses the audience,
and to intersperse narration with scenes in order to tell the story. The term non-linear
is used to describe a structure in which the scenes are not presented in chronological
order. In The Glass Menagerie, Tom’s character is the narrator in addition to being present
in many of the scenes. The scenes with other characters are presented in chronological
order, but Tom’s narration is timeless. It is unclear what “time” Tom is in when he is fi lling
in the gaps or telling his side of the story. Tom is also something of a day dreamer. By the
end of the play, he is fi red from his job at Continental Shoemakers for writing a poem on
the lid of a shoe-box.
The following activities are designed to help students explore their own memories and
make connections between their experiences and those of the characters in the play. The
activities can be done in any number of ways, depending on curricular needs. Although
the lesson is designed in a linear sequence, teachers may choose to read and analyze the
play with the students and then jump straight to the shoe-box activity or the activities can
be done with less student knowledge of the play.
Materials you will need
Copies of The Glass Menagerie script or scene
Paper and pens
Space to move/ a small performance space
Shoe-box lids
Art supplies: Markers, scrap paper, decorations, glue, scissors, etc
Creative art supplies: Foil, newspapers and magazines, nature, etc.
Playwriting Activity
1) If the students have not read and analyzed the play, show the students the attached
scene from The Glass Menagerie. Discuss how a play is written differently than a book.
Specifi cally, how is the format different?
- There are setting notes before the scene begins, explaining how the set looks and
where set pieces such as furniture are located.
Arizona Theatre Company Play Guide 30