One Song goes classic with The Glass Menagerie

Powerful, relatable and true to the author: these qualities are what One Song Productions’ co-directors Bryna Loranger and Jax Preyer hope to include in their rendition of The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams.

One Song Productions is a youth-run theater organization that puts on six different shows a year, giving theater experience to high school students across the Durham-Chapel Hill area.

As a first time member on the organization’s board of directors, and having been a normal member since her freshman year, Chapel Hill senior Bryna Loranger is excited to direct her first production with the organization.

The Glass Menagerie is set in Missouri during the Great Depression and follows the memories of an aspiring poet and warehouse worker, Tom Wingfield. Wingfield has to provide for his mothe

r, Amanda, and his sister, Laura, after his father abandons the family.

“It’s just really beautiful,” Loranger said, when asked why she and her East Chapel Hill counterpart Preyer chose the play. “It’s this play set in the 1930s, but the freedom [Tennessee Williams] gives us, in terms that we can make it whatever we want, we were like ‘okay, it’s beautiful and we have to do this.’”

Chapel Hill junior Esmé Dorosin, who plays Laura Wingfield, is excited about their first One Song Productions performance.

“I’ve always liked Tennessee Williams, and so The Glass Menagerie is a play that I’ve read quite a lot,” Dorosin said. “I think it’s really cool to have student directors like Bryna and Jax because it’s easier to connect with them and the whole vibe is a lot more relaxed and fun. I find myself agreeing with them a lot.”

Loranger admitted to struggling with casting decisions, with around 20 people having auditioned for only four roles.

“It came down to character relationships, which are really important to Jax and I—like how people are going to interact in a two person scene,” Loranger said.

Chapel Hill students Anna LeDuc and August Moore will also be performing, along with Chapel Hill alumnus Samuel Quinn Morris.

The Glass Menagerie will be shown at 7:30 p.m. on March 10 to 12 at the Common Ground Theatre in Durham. Attendees are suggested to donate eight to ten dollars. Everyone in the community is invited to attend.