Exploring in the words of director Lisa Berger “the cost of personal freedom,” Diversionary Theatre’s production of Tennessee Williams’ quintessential memory play “The Glass Menagerie” is one in which narrator and protagonist Tom Wingfield is a closeted gay man.

In fact, said Berger, “There’s this theme of otherness and queerness that runs through all the characters. Tom and (fragile sister) Laura are obvious ‘others.’ (Mother) Amanda and the Gentleman Caller are outside of the mainstream.”

In directing at Diversionary for the fourth time following productions of “Looking for Normal” in 2005, “The Long Christmas Ride Home” in 2007 and “The Moors” in 2017, Berger said “I wanted to cast in a nontraditional way. I didn’t want to cast an ingenue as Laura or a leading man as Tom. I wanted to go off the beaten path a bit.”

In this cast, Kirk Brown, who plays the Gentleman Caller Jim O’Connor is African American, Julia Belanova, as Laura, identifies as nonbinary and Luke Harvey Jacobs, portraying Tom, is queer. Shana Wride plays matriarch Amanda Wingfield.

The cast of Diversionary Theatre’s “The Glass Menagerie,” from left, Julia Belanova, Shana Wride, foreground, Kirk Brown, rear, and Luke Harvey Jacobs.

(Courtesy of Andrea Agosto)

“We really did try to consider diversity in the cast because we wanted those voices specifically in the room,” said Berger. “That has been really enlightening and wonderful.”

Recalling Jacobs’ Zoom audition, Berger said “When he did the final monologue I was like ‘That’s it. He’s my Tom.’”

Jacobs said he’d long admired the play but hadn’t considered it for himself prior to the audition which “threw my expectations to the wind. In digging into his piece, especially being produced at Diversionary, I had so much relatability to it.”

“In every conversation I had with myself about the piece, I saw a moment in Tom that I’ve had as a queer person that absolutely rang true and made me want to revisit the queer person that Tom is as I once was.”

Jacobs added that in Tom, who scholars believe playwright Williams modeled after himself, audiences in general will encounter something in themselves.

“Tom’s a person in a desperate situation,” he said. “He’s needing something else in his life but he doesn’t know what, and he has no outlet to get it. I think we have all be there at certain points in our lives.”

Working with Berger is proving gratifying for Jacobs.

Shana Wride and Luke Harvey Jacobs play mother and son in Diversionary Theatre’s “The Glass Menagerie.”

(Courtesy of Andrea Agosto)

“She has an acting background and I’ve heard people refer to her as an ‘actor’s director’,” he said. “I find that to be completely true. She’s interested in putting herself in our shoes to understand how we’re approaching things.

“It’s like having a fifth actor helping you navigate this play. It’s extremely collaborative and I so value that.”

Berger’s experience with Tennessee Williams to this point has only been directing a production of “A Streetcar Named Desire” in 2014 at the University of San Diego.

“I loved doing ‘Streetcar,’” she said. “It was one of my favorite things I’ve ever directed. There’s a reason why he (Williams) is a legend: his words, the way he tells a story, the way he weaves it together. It’s such a rich tapestry.”

“The Glass Menagerie,” which premiered in 1944 in Chicago, was Williams’ first highly successful produced play. Autobiographical in nature, it grew out of a short story Williams had written called “Portrait of a Girl in Glass.” Its themes of longing, resistance to reality and disillusionment have made it iconic theater.

Berger calls the Diversionary production “our version of it. We are making choices that are not traditional choices. We’re also trying to make it more socially relevant, looking at it through a new lens.”

This applies especially to the character of Tom Wingfield.

“In our production we’re trying to display a pretty significant switch in the changes he’s been going through in the past 10 years,” explained Jacobs. “Wrapping my head around being able to expand and be the person you’re trying to be outside the confines of your home is a bit of a head trip. But really fun.”

‘The Glass Menagerie’

When: Previews, Dec. 1 through 8. Opens Dec. 9 and runs through Dec. 23. Showtimes, 7 p.m. Thursdays; 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays

Where: Diversionary Theatre, 4545 Park Blvd., University Heights

Tickets: $20-$65

Phone: (619) 220-0097

Online: diversionary.org

Coddon is a freelance writer.