Pittsburgh Public Theater will open its 40th season with "The Glass Menagerie" to honor the past -- it was the first play produced by the company, on Sept. 17, 1975 -- and to stay true to the company's present.

"The great American play, whether it be Eugene O'Neill or Arthur Miller or Clifford Odets or Lillian Hellman or Kaufman and Hart -- my first play here as artistic director was 'You Can't Take It With You' -- is central to who we are as a company. So we are doing 'The Glass Menagerie,' " said Ted Pappas, the Public's producing artistic director.

He asked Pamela Berlin to direct because of his admiration for her productions of "Talley's Folly" and "A Moon for the Misbegotten," works by Lanford Wilson and Mr. O'Neill, respectively, at the Public's O'Reilly Theater.

Ms. Berlin also directed a new American classic last season, the Pulitzer and Tony Award winner "Clybourne Park," in which Lynne Wintersteller played dual roles in her first appearance with the Public.

Now the actress takes on the iconic role of Amanda Wingfield, a faded Southern belle who is desperately seeking a future for her fragile daughter.

Ms. Wintersteller also is a musical theater artist who has appeared on Broadway in "Annie" and "A Grand Night for Singing" and earned a Drama Desk nomination for best actress in a musical for the revue "Closer Than Ever."

Before "Clybourne Park," Pittsburghers knew her as a singer-dancer in "42nd Street" with Pittsburgh CLO in 2006.

"I can straddle both worlds," Ms. Wintersteller said of musicals and plays. "I'm very lucky that I haven't been pinned down as, 'Oh look, she can sing. She just happens to be able to act.' "

After working together in "Clybourne Park," she and director Berlin are going on another journey into another era, this time with Fisher Neal as Amanda's son Tom, Cathryn Wake as daughter Laura and Jordan Whalen as the Gentleman Caller who just might be the answer to Laura's future and the Wingfield's troubles.

"Pam and I have found so many colors with this role," Ms. Wintersteller said of Amanda. "[The director] does so much research and doesn't stop, and that applies to all of us. ... We're starting in 1937, during the Depression, so you're in a period piece. Tom in the beginning says it's a dream play, 'It's in my mind.' It's what he thinks of his mother, his sister and the Gentleman Caller. So it's very mysterious, and he floats in out of the present, about 15 years later, and back in the Depression with us. So that's a nice challenge for us."

The Public, a thrust stage with audience members on three sides and gallery views, poses other challenges of time and spacing that are met on a detailed level, to accommodate the intimacy of the O'Reilly Theater.

Ms. Wintersteller said for a scene in which Tom pulls out a Merchant Marine card, an old card was found and repurposed with a photograph of Mr. Neal. The large Victrola called for by Williams' script is placed strategically so as not to block scenes such as Laura and the Gentleman Caller sitting on the living room floor.

There are some specific props in "The Glass Menagerie," and then there is the opportunity for some metaphoric scenery chewing, particularly when it comes to Amanda Wingfield.

The role has been a lure for some of theater's top leading ladies since the drama debuted in 1945. There have been six Broadway revivals since then, including last year with the Tony-nominated Cherry Jones as Amanda.

The Tennessee Williams matriarch is domineering and a compulsive talker, but her intentions as a ferociously protective mother are never in doubt.

When speaking of the singular Amanda, the actress who will play her sometimes slipped into the first person.

"I use the word in the play 'devotion,' " Ms. Wintersteller said, then quoted the character, " 'My devotion has made me a witch, and so I make myself hateful to my children.' It's like any parent when you see your child going down one path, and you don't mean to be passive-aggressive or give them missed signals, but we all do. You want the best for your child and you wind up coming down on them hard all the time. Also don't forget, there's a man, my husband, who deserted us. So Tom pretty much is the breadwinner and the man of the house, and she puts an awful lot of pressure on him."

During auditions, Ms. Wintersteller said she connected with the humor that comes from recognizing a situational truth. Amanda might be on a roll about, say, her son's nightly disappearances, but she can't help herself when it comes to certain paternal instincts.

"We all do that as mothers and fathers -- you are in the middle of an argument and you say, 'Button up your shirt. Wipe your nose.' The beauty of this play and the reason it is such a classic is that Tennessee Williams' text is absolutely brilliant and, although not a lot happens in our show, it's a character study on the human experience, and everyone can relate to that."

First Published: October 2, 2014, 4:00 a.m.