The Iona College Theater Ensemble opened to a full auditorium for their first performance of Tennessee Williams’ “The Glass Menagerie” April 23.

The play featured junior Steven Pearce as Tom Wingfield, a warehouse worker who desperately wants to get out from under the watch of his overprotective and over-involved mother, Amanda, played by sophomore Amanda Moneta.

Amanda Wingfield longs for her younger days where she had “gentleman callers” lining up at her door. She wants the very best for her two children, Tom and his physically challenged sister, Laura, played by senior Amy Wert.

However, her best intentions are trying on her two children, and she is distraught when a seeming match for Laura, Jim O’Connor (played by sophomore Alexander Fasano), turns out to be bust. In the end, the family is rather defeated, and Tom, who has had enough of his difficult home life, follows the path of his father, and leaves.

The small cast of the ensemble delivered the performance of this classic American play with dedication and heart. The actors had clearly worked hard in preparation and this resulted in genuine acting and a successful play.

“I played Laura in ‘The Glass Menagerie’ and it was the most challenging role I’ve ever played,” Wert said. “From her crippling shyness, to the accent, to the limp, playing Laura was extremely difficult, but very rewarding. It really allowed me to end my acting career at Iona on a high note.”

Certainly, the most gripping performance came from the narrator and protagonist, Pearce as Tom. Pearce, an experienced actor with both the Iona Players and the Theater Ensemble, was exceptional. He acted with poise, knowledge, and succeeded in really delivering the meaning behind “The Glass Menagerie.”

Another element that must be commended in this case was the set design for the play. The Wingfield father is an important, though absent, fifth character to the action, as Tom mentions specifically in the play. The portrait that was chosen to hang on set was perfect.

The cast did an excellent job in making the audience feel the presence of the father, and the effect his leaving had on the family and the ongoing drama.

Williams’ play was certainly a great choice for the ensemble’s spring show, because while it was less action-filled than some other performances, it presented a struggle that any college student can relate to.

“The Glass Menagerie” is first and foremost a family drama; the pressures Tom and Laura feel from their mother Amanda are not unknown to college students trying to sort through their plans for the future with pressures from friends, parents and professors.

In the end, the show was a successful element of Iona’s Spring Weekend, but also bittersweet. The Ensemble said goodbye to both Wert and Thomas Worden (Tom Wingfield in the alternate cast) who are graduating in May.

“This was my fifth and final performance, and I will miss it,” Wert said. “But I can’t wait to come back and see what the theatre ensemble does in the future.”