A memory of a sad, shy girl dancing under the dry heat of a focused spotlight to Spanish guitar music while her brother stands offstage, looking back from years in the future, knowing she will never again be as happy as she was in that moment is the bittersweet scene serving as the emotional centerpiece to The School of Theatre and Dance’s first production of the semester, “The Glass Menagerie” by Tennessee Williams.

Williams’ autobiographical play revolves around a fictionalized version of himself, Tom Winfield, an aspiring writer trying to escape his domineering mother and frustrated family life, played by second-year MFA acting major Loren Jones.

The play is subjective and surrealist; Wingfield begins by directly informing the audience they’re about to watch scenes constructed out of his cracked recollections.

Jones speaks with the conviction of an inspired poet and draws the audience inward into his warped family life. The play would fail without a tour guide as charismatic as him.

The key to this production is stage design. Instead of a conventional stage, the action plays out on a square outcropping, which allows the audience a 180 degree view of the characters. The troublesome events Winfield remembers are put on curious display.

The platform resembles a crooked museum exhibit, and Wingfield stands outside the perimeter, pointing out details and guiding the audience through his family history. The stage grants the audience a greater sense of participation; they witness the play the same way Wingfield does, from the outside in, the same way anybody looks through the lens of memory.

Onstage, a younger version of Wingfield, played by sophomore BFA acting major Johnny Hohman, bristles under the twisted maternal care of his mother Amanda, an aging southern belle portrayed by MFA acting major Shannon Coltrane.

Coltrane steals the show as the vivacious and sometimes cruel Amanda. She is over-dramatic and over-the-top, frequently screaming at her children, but her fire comes from a place of genuine care. Amanda frequently recollects days spent pursued by legions of bachelors or as she dubs them, “gentleman callers.” In her view, happiness is only achieved by charming and seducing others, and she pushes her family away by driving them to follow her example.

As difficult as she is to be around, Amanda is just a single mother trying her best to raise her children, and Coltrane plays her character like a virtuoso, with anger, arrogance and burning motherly passion swirling behind her eyes.

If Amanda represents the past by continuously referencing how beautiful and charming she was, then Wingfield represents the future. Wingfield works an unfulfilling warehouse job but dreams of becoming a poet. He yearns for a more substantial life, but he’s tethered to his home because of his devotion to his shy, crippled sister Laura, sweetly played by second-year MFA acting major Elise Delap.

“The Glass Menagerie” is a story about the fluidity of memory and the way people enshroud and distort it. It’s a guide through the life of a then up-and-coming and frustrated playwright; The School of Theatre and Dance should be proud of their accomplished production.