GLASSHEART

January 17 - February 16, 2014
By Reina Hardy
Directed by Lee Liebeskind
  • Atlas Performing Arts Center

“In the empty living room of a shabby apartment,
in the dark, a Beast is crying.
There is just enough light to see that he is monstrous,
and that he is clutching something precious to him.”

Holed up in a tiny Chicago apartment, a beast and his only friend, a lamp, wait for a beauty that may never come. The downstairs neighbor has a band, and the landlady makes suspiciously delicious gingerbread. Then one day, a U-Haul arrives… In the space between now and always, GLASSHEART confronts the universal uncertainties of love, fate and free-will.

“Rorschach Theatre, Washington’s leading fantasists, are giving the script a loving embrace at the Atlas Performing Arts Center, where a quartet of actors are putting an engaging spin on Hardy’s swooning talk.”

The Washington Post

FEATURING

Natalie Cutcher
Andrew Keller
Lynette Rathnam
Megan Reichelt

Designers

Costumes Lauren Cucarola
Associate Costume Designer Debra Kim Sivigny
Set Robbie Hayes
Associate Set Designer Swedian Lee
Sound Veronica J. Lancaster
Lighting Katie McCreary 
Props Britney Mongold

STAFF

Production Manager Robin Covington
Assistant Director Jennifer Knight
Stage Manager Kellie Knight
Jeanie McAlpine Jeanie McAlpine
Technical Director Christian Sullivan
Scenic Painter Ashley Bailey
ASMs Mark Palumbo and Ellison Roberts
Original Music by Aaron Bliden & Mark Halpern

PRODUCERS

Randy Baker
Jenny McConnell Frederick

MEDIA

PRESS

"Glassheart is an offbeat, mature riff on the classic “Beauty and the Beast” fairy tale. The Beast must not only conquer the ancient curse that has given him a combined human-animal appearance until he finds love, he must also deal with doubt, depression, and dating in a contemporary American setting. Reina Hardy’s updating of the fairy tale is a charming and thought-provoking success thanks to a well-acted production of Glassheart by Rorschach Theatre."
DC Theatre Scene
"…enchanting, funny, and thought-provoking."
Maryland Theatre Guide
"Modern retellings of Beauty and the Beast are nothing new, really. But Reina Hardy’s eerie, melancholy Glassheart sets itself apart not with dancing teapots or arrogant rivals who eat five dozen eggs but for being more than just a love story… Glassheart has the dark feel of many fairy tales, and it both references and takes liberties with the original version, while having enough of its own personality to keep the audience guessing as to what will happen to its characters….

Perhaps the most intriguing character and performance is Rathnam’s witch, a creepy but magnetic woman of indeterminate age. She is one of those villains who certainly seems sinister (if sympathetic), but whose arguments and motivations can start to make a whole lot of sense to the rational observer as the play goes on. In Glassheart, that’s a seductive and dangerous thing."
Washingtonian