Mockingbird returns with gorgeous ‘Glass Menagerie’

Nothing can kill this Mockingbird.

Less than six weeks after The Mockingbird on Main lost its theater in the building collapse at 324 Main St., Davenport, the show literally must go on, as a new production of its planned “The Glass Menagerie” will open at the Black Hawk College theater in Moline Friday, July 7 at 8 p.m., and run two weekends.

The nearly two-year-old cabaret-style theater, at 320 Main St., Davenport, was located on the first floor of the building that partially collapsed on May 28, killed three men, and was later entirely demolished.

The cast of the 1944 Tennessee Williams classic memory play (directed by Mockingbird veteran Alexander Richardson) is Jackie McCall as Amanda, Jo Vasquez as Laura, Tristan Tapscott as Tom and Roger Pavey Jr. as Jim.

Richardson, a prolific playwright who had several of his works staged at Mockingbird since it opened July 29, 2021, asked Tapscott (who co-owns the theater with his wife Savannah Bay Strandin) to do “Glass Menagerie” and it’s been an obstacle-strewn journey to bring it to the stage.

After the building collapse, Richardson said they didn’t want to cancel, but were forced to readjust and go on.

The director has never done any shows at BHC, which has not done theater for several years. Richardson – who works for Black Hawk as senior research analyst (since 2019) — said the 120-seat theater is great but isn’t living up to its full potential.

“It’s used as a lecture hall and for talent shows and presentations, but it hasn’t been used as a theater in recent years,” he said Wednesday. The theater renovation was over 10 years ago.

Richardson was in a department meeting a couple days after the Davenport building collapse, and his co-workers knew he was involved in the Mockingbird. They asked how he was doing and suggested he mount “Glass Menagerie” at Black Hawk.

“Within a few days, it had already been run up the chain of command – everyone high up loved the idea and signed off on it and a few weeks later, here we are,” Richardson said, noting it was invaluable that BHC is donating the theater space.

“We could not ask for a more generous offer,” he said. “All of this would be impossible without the support of Black Hawk. Even more than just the space – IT was just in here today, to retool the speakers…There have been so many different hands involved in getting the show up and it’s been really kind of incredible to see how more than just theater people have been pulling together to help make this happen.”

In many respects, the BHC theater is an upgrade from the old Mockingbird space – in size, and quality of lighting and sound equipment, Richardson said. “It’s totally different.”

He had to totally revise how he directed “Glass Menagerie,” compared to the smaller, much narrower Mockingbird stage.

“I had all the blocking mapped out and after the building collapse, well, that’s all just useless now,” he recalled. “The space is so entirely different that I just had to start over.”

One thing he retained from the original was a staircase at the rear, which was larger at Mockingbird. BHC still has a small staircase, that reflects the script’s fire escape.

“They have several scenes on the fire escape and they refer to themselves as being on the fire escape,” Richardson said.

He loved how intimate and quaint a space Mockingbird was.

“The audience couldn’t hide,” he said. “When you’re just five feet away from a person acting their heart out, you can’t help but look. That’s the thing I miss the most, just how intimate it was. Here it’s still comparatively a fairly intimate space.”

Despite its classic reputation, Richardson said he first hated “Glass Menagerie” in high school and after re-reading it a couple years ago, he changed his mind.

“It’s like, oh my God, this is heartbreaking; this is devastating,” he said Wednesday. “I pitched it to Tristan, and he said, yeah.”

The four characters all feel very real and fully fleshed out, Richardson said.

“When these performers really get in it, it doesn’t even seem like they’re acting, because of how natural the dialogue is and how natural the characters are,” he said. “Every night is just a thrill to watch.”

An unexpected Mockingbird debut

Adam Cerny had to drop out of the play just before the first week of rehearsals (which began June 12), and Tapscott stepped in right away to replace him, in his first stage role in a Mockingbird production.

Pavey also joined the cast fairly late, soon after the building collapse May 28. Both he and Tapscott also were in the Black Box Theatre cast of “Hello, Dolly,” which ran June 1-10.

“I can’t imagine doing a show after that,” Richardson said.

“I either step into it, or we don’t do it,” Tapscott said Wednesday. “After everything we’d been through at that point, we can’t possibly not do it.”

“It’s a big show to put together; there’s a lot of pieces,” he said. “Still dealing from the fallout of the collapse, too. It’s been a lot, but we figured it out and we’re here. It’s been a very fulfilling experience artistically – not just as a producer, but as a performer. It’s a beautiful script.”

“It’s been a summer of classics for me, from ‘Hello, Dolly,’ to ‘Glass Menagerie’,” Tapscott said. “It’s a stunning show. Everyone in it is so wonderful. They’ve been so warm and welcoming. The theater’s been through the ringer.”

He has worked often with McCall’s husband Sean, who’s directed “Shear Madness” and “Winter Wonderland” at Circa ’21, and they cohost a Disney-themed podcast together.

“When Jackie said she was interested, oh my gosh, she’s unbelievable,” Tapscott said. “It’s been a journey.”

He always loves working with Richardson as well.

“Had it been a different situation, with a different director, I might have re-considered everything,” he said. “He’s done such a beautiful job shaping the show.”

“His guidance has really breathed life into this classic,” Tapscott said. “It has this really dark vibe. So it’s not your run-of-the-mill ‘Glass Menagerie.’ It wouldn’t be the Mockingbird way to do a run-of-the-mill anything.”

He attended BHC from 2002-04, and this brings back memories. “It’s really cool,” Tapscott said. “It’s an intriguing thing to have a full circle moment. I did stuff in my early college days. We’re just really grateful for the opportunity to keep this show alive.”

He’s making progress in finding a permanent Mockingbird space and plans to present “Big Rock Candy Mountain” at Moline’s Black Box Theatre in August.

“We’re hoping to do something by the fall, and if not, we’ll open with a holiday show,” he said of a Mockingbird 2.0. There was no expectation to do more than one show at Black Hawk.

“It was a mutual thing – they were only interested in us doing one thing here,” Tapscott said. “We’re very grateful for this, but this really isn’t our vibe. So for this, it’s working really well. I don’t think a more traditional space really speaks Mockingbird.”

“The fact that we’re moving forward is a big testament,” he said. “The community has said, ‘You’re doing this, it’s OK.’ It was really overwhelming to both of us that we had people out there wanting us, and thought that we were a valuable part of the community, so here we are.”

“Beautifully poetic”

Tapscott has always loved “Glass Menagerie,” as a beautiful play.

“In a lot of ways, the character of Tom uses beautifully poetic language,” he said. Tapscott noted one line Tom has that hits especially hard, given what’s happened — “Adventure and change were imminent in this year.” “It’s gorgeous language,” he said of Williams.

Jo Vasquez was in two Mockingbird shows (“Your Better Self” and “Enemy of the People,” also by Richardson as playwright), and all Haus of Ruckus shows there).

“This character is so different from what I’ve played on stage and who I am,” Pavey (who starts his senior year at Augustana this fall) said. “Jackie was the first person at Augie I interacted with when she started working there.”

McCall hasn’t performed in a show since fall 2019, when she started working for Augustana as Brunner Theatre Center’s outreach coordinator and producing artistic director for the now-defunct summer-stock Mississippi Bend Players (MBP).

In February 2022, she left the Rock Island private school to become director of development for a children’s museum outside Iowa City, in Coralville.

Pavey has done marketing for Augie theater and did lighting and projections for the 2021 MBP season (he also was dramaturg for “Red”).

Pavey has done lighting for several Black Box shows, as he is doing for “Glass Menagerie.” Circa ’21 costume designer Bradley Robert Jensen has designed the new show’s costumes.

“As an actor, it was a little stressful,” Pavey said of the compressed rehearsal schedule. “I enjoy it. Tech-wise, this space is really nice.”

“It’s been nice to get involved with Mockingbird, but of course I get involved with Mockingbird after the building collapsed,” he said. “It’s also been really interesting acting with Tristan, because we went from Barnaby and Cornelius (in “Dolly”), to kind of similar characters…That’s been cool, too.”

A cracked glass filter

Pavey described Tennessee Williams’s work as reality with a filter over it, a twist on real life. “I think his work is so cool; it’s lyrical.”

He added “The Glass Menagerie” is like viewing life through broken glass.

“It also gives us the opportunity to do some overacting,” Richardson said. “In our memories, we like to dramatize things and play them up. If we’re looking back on a memory, we typically like to frame ourselves as, as good a person as possible.”

“We make some of these moments nasty and awful, because it feels that way in Tom’s memory,” he said.

The play is considered Williams’s most autobiographical work. The frustrated poet and dreamer Tom is named after the author (1911-1983), whose given name was Thomas Lanier Williams. The unhappy family life at the center of the 1944 play mirrored his own.

Tom is both outside and inside the tragic story, reminiscing about a wandering father who left the family years ago, and the domineering, nagging mother, Amanda, later points out how similar Tom is to him.

He has a dreary warehouse job and lives in a tenement apartment with his mother and painfully shy sister, Laura, who grew up with a lung disease and a leg brace. Laura is obsessed with her menagerie of glass animals and playing records, while her mother wants Tom’s help to find her a husband.

Laura — nicknamed “Blue Roses” by a high-school boy since she had pleurosis — was based on Williams’ sister Rose, who struggled with mental illness and retreated to a world of isolation, surrounded by her glass ornaments. When Williams died, he left most of his estate to her, to ensure she would be cared for until her death.

Like the Wingfields, his family was headed by a strong-willed mother, who raised the family without the help of her husband, a traveling shoe salesman.

McCall has commuted an hour and a half daily for “Glass Menagerie” rehearsals.

“I was very excited to be able to be in this show,” she said, noting she’s seen some Mockingbird shows but never was in one. “This is one of those random moments that you feel like the universe wants you to do something, because I saw a post that they were still looking for someone to play Amanda.”

“The Glass Menagerie” was performed by MBP at Augustana (directed by Cory Johnson) in June 2018.

“I have taught it several times over the years in different classes,” McCall said. “I have to say, it’s been a blast. Since I’m on the younger end of the Amanda scale, maybe I’ll get to do it again another time.”

Continuing to dream

Tapscott and Strandin (who are both veteran Circa performers and married last October) started The Mockingbird on Main in July 2021 as an arts incubator and performance space for the Quad Cities. As a BHC student, Tapscott performed in several college productions.

“It’s just really special we’re able to continue on with our little dream,” Strandin said Wednesday at Black Hawk. “We’re so grateful to Black Hawk for letting us use the space. They were so quick to reach out.”

Of her husband, she said: “He is a rock star. He is Superman. The fact that I’ve been out of town all month, since the end of May, he has handled everything.”

Strandin started rehearsals for shows at Little Theatre on the Square (in Sullivan, Ill.), May 24, and just recently finished those.

“I just got home a few days ago; OK, I’m here for tech week to help out,” she said. “He has truly done everything.”

Though they’re obviously not the Mockingbird “on Main” anymore, they will remain the Mockingbird, Strandin said.

Performances of “The Glass Menagerie” will be held at 8 p.m. on July 7, 8, 13, 14 and 15 at BHC’s Quad-Cities Campus, 6600 34th Ave., Moline, in Building 1, Room 308 (theatre). Guests should park in Lot 1 off 70th Street.

While the Mockingbird had for many months been using a “Pay what it’s worth” model (where patrons see the show and decide what to pay afterward), it is charging set prices from here on out. People can still donate what they want for each show’s preview, the night before opening.

Tickets for “Glass Menagerie” will be $12 in advance online HERE or $15 at the door (cash or Venmo) at the door.