Stairs to the Roof
By Tennessee Williams
February 2015
The Latvian Society Theater
A rarely-seen early Williams play becomes a sleeper hit.
Part fantasy, part political invective, part romance, part Broadway celebration; this extraordinary play is unlike any Tennessee Williams seen before. A young Williams’ wrote this “prayer for the wild of heart who are kept in cages” while working in his father’s shoe factory in St. Louis. The story examines the inner-life of a young office clerk who dreams of freedom and a higher purpose in his life. He secretly wages war against workers’ slavery to the clock and the de-humanization of industrial America. He finds a magical escape, a secret stairs to the roof of his office, which begins his journey from the ordinary to seek an extraordinary life. Directors Lane Savadove and Dane Eissler brought dynamic physicality to this highly imaginative production to new life for this Philadelphia premiere. In partnership with Rowan University Department of Theatre & Dance.
Creative Team
Lane Savadove & Dane Eissler … Co-Directors
Dan Soule … Scenic Designer
Robin Shane … Costume Designer
Matt Sharp … Lighting Designer
Robert Carlton … Sound Designer
Ileana Fortuno … Props Designer
Constanze Keller … Scenic Charge
Lauren Ackermann … Stage Manager/Production Manager
Emily McHale … Assistant Director
Shane Harkins … Assistant Stage Manager
Dave Garrett Saraffian … Production Photos
Cast
Craig O’Brien … Ben Murphy
Lauren Berman … Girl
Dexter Anderson … Mr. Thatcher
AJ Klein … Designer/Zookeeper
Katie Knoblock … Helen
Jenna Kuerzi … Alma
Rachel O'Hanlon-Rodriguez … Edna
Dana Orange … Alfred/Mummer
Michael Pliskin … Jim
Christopher Marlowe Roche … Mr. E
Angela Smith … Bertha
Andy Spinosi … Johnnie/Policeman
Matthew Weil … Mr. Gum
Constanze Keller … Ensemble
Ileana Fortuno … Ensemble
About Tennessee Williams
Thomas Lanier Williams III (March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983) was an American playwright and screenwriter. Along with contemporaries Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller, he is considered among the three foremost playwrights of 20th-century American drama.
Williams wrote his first play in 1930, but his work did not gain much traction until 1944 with the success of The Glass Menagerie. His next plays, including A Streetcar Named Desire (1947), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955), Sweet Bird of Youth (1959), and The Night of the Iguana (1961), were also successful and widely acclaimed. With his later work, Williams attempted a new style that did not appeal as widely to audiences. His drama A Streetcar Named Desire is often numbered on short lists of the finest American plays of the 20th century alongside Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night and Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman.
Much of Williams's work were adapted to film. He also wrote short stories, poetry, essays, and a volume of memoirs. In 1979, four years before his death, Williams was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame.