MEET THE CAST: The Glass Menagerie

All of us at The Chicago Inclusion Project are thrilled to bring back our salon reading series. This month we will present an informal reading and discussion of THE GLASS MENAGERIE by Tennessee Williams in collaboration with The Hyde Park Art Center and their current exhibits of "Black and Brown are Beautiful" and "Intersectional Touch."

We were thrilled to finally get to work with Abbas Salem, a Chicago theater treasure, and long time friend of The Chicago Inclusion Project. We're so thrilled he is our Tom.

"As a person who's been in charge of his own theatrical education, I chose what plays I read and I always assumed that The Glass Menagerie was a world I would never be invited into, so I didn't bother exploring it. However, it's all about wanting to change the present, and what could be more relatable. Tom can't accept how mundane his life is but feels trapped, unlike the magician in the coffin. I feel trapped by my life all the time and sometimes it hurts to see how free others can be. I've felt the need to grasp at change for no reason other than making things different and I've felt just as lost within it."

Omer Abbas Salem is a Chicago actor and writer and he's so thrilled to finally work with the Chicago Inclusion Project. His Chicago work includes Pinocchio (The House), Linda and Earthquakes in London (Steep Theatre), Merge and Even Longer and Further Away (The New Colony), INVASION! (Silk Road Rising), Princess Mary (Bailiwick Chicago), In to America (Griffin Theatre), Le Switch (About Face), and Washer/Dryer (Rasaka Theatre). Regional work: Angels in America I & II, A Christmas Carol, and You Across From Me (Actors Theatre of Louisville). Off Broadway: Eddie and Dave (The Atlantic Theater) and I am Going to Change the World (Roundabout Theater). He is a proud core ensemble member of The New Colony and Acting Apprentice at the Actors Theatre of Louisville 17/18. He is represented by Shirley Hamilton and more at www.omerabbassalem.com.

Come see Abbas and the rest of our wonderful cast next Monday, September 23 at The Hyde Park Art Center.