
DATE: Wednesday, February 26, 1997          TAG: 9702260511

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B3   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 

SOURCE: BY FRANK ROBERTS, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   74 lines

WILLIAMS' ``GLASS MENAGERIE'' FEATURES MEGHAN MULHEARN

It is not a downcast cast, unlike the characters they portray. The Theatre of Dare performers feel good about what they are doing.

Well, they're doing Tennessee Williams, so there's got to be some downcast.

Take an idealistic brother who is a frustrated poet, add a lame sister who collects glass animals, and mix `em with an aging, frustrated Southern belle momma.

You get ``The Glass Menagerie,'' which is a little on the autobiographical side. The daughter was patterned after Williams' older sister, Rose, who eventually went insane.

Her favorite things were in her glass menagerie, housed in a room where she spent so much time, a room where the white curtains were always drawn.

Rose, called Laura in the play, ``is a little bit off her rocker,'' said Meghan Mulhearn, who portrays her for Theatre of Dare.

``All the characters in the play,'' she said, ``retreat into their illusions.''

The illusions are literally shattered when a gentleman caller visits.

The part of the daughter - well, almost any part in a Williams production - is demanding.

Meghan, a ``Lost Colony'' apprentice last summer, is president of the Manteo High School drama club. This play will test her capabilities.

``I've always been kind of an actress,'' she said. ``My mother used to call me Sarah Bernhardt.'' The reference is to a French actress of the late 19th and early 20th century.

Meghan, a straight-A student who plays violin and piano, and sings, said her major interests are anthropology and journalism.

Now, her interest is in ``The Glass Menagerie,'' and she was ready before audition time.

``I read the play and I'd identified with the part,'' Meghan said. ``It's an interesting part about someone who had very few choices in life.''

Much of Stephanie Spence's life has revolved around the stage, acting and directing.

She portrays the mother in ``The Glass Menagerie.''

Unlike her on stage daughter, Spence has had a lot of acting experience, which includes a degree in theater from Auburn University.

``I've been doing it all my life,'' she said. ``I've been involved in community and educational theater, outdoor drama and dinner theater for 30 years.''

Spence has been a Theatre of Dare member since the group was organized. She is a past president, and a member of the board of directors.

She performed in four productions, and directed four. She will be at the helm of the May production of ``Steel Magnolias.''

Like Meghan, Spence was seen in ``The Lost Colony'' last year. She was the lady at the spinning wheel.

The lady of the house in ``The Glass Menagerie'' is a fading, flighty Southern belle, living in poverty in St. Louis, suffering from a case of the St. Louis blues.

``She tries desperately to help her kids,'' Spence said, ``but her methods are irritating. She gets on their nerves.''

Williams strikes a nerve.

``Being from the South - Alabama - I've known people like her. Certain people in my past are very much like Amanda,'' Spence said, ``so it's been easy. I have a Southern accent, anyway. I just intensify it.''

Tennessee Williams' ``The Glass Menagerie,'' takes place in a fragile world. It is an exaggerated - though not always - mirror of the world in which many of us live. ILLUSTRATION: THEATER PREVIEW

WHAT: Theatre of Dare presents ``The Glass Menagerie.''

WHEN: Feb. 27 to March 1, March 6 to 8 at 8 p.m. and March 9 at 2

p.m.

WHERE: Manteo High School.

TICKETS: $8 at the door, $7 in advance and can be purchased at

Gray's in Kitty Hawk, Yarn Corner in Kill Devil Hills, Quality Inn

Sea Oatel in Nags Head, Manteo Booksellers.

INFORMATION: Call 441-3088.