Players present classic ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’

Tennessee Williams’ Pulitzer Prize Winning, “A Streetcar Named Desire” opens on The Wimberley Players stage Sept. 1 and runs through Sept. 24.

In 1947, only two years after his highly successful play “The Glass Menagerie” premiered, Tennessee Williams at the age of 36 opened “A Streetcar Named Desire” – a future Pulitzer Prize-winning American masterpiece that still captivates audiences with its powerful portrayal of intricate human relationships and such issues as mental illness, domestic violence, and repressed sexuality. Over the next few years, his writing legacy continued with some of the most iconic plays to grace the American theater stage including “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” (1955), “Sweet Bird of Youth” (1959), and “The Night of the Iguana” (1961). Along with Eugene O’Neill and Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams is ranked among the foremost playwrights of 20th century American drama.

The play unfolds as, after her fall from grace and the loss of her family home, Blanche Du-Bois moves to the New Orleans French Quarter to live with her younger sister Stella and Stella’s husband Stanley Kowalski. This domestic situation sparks a tumultuous relationship between Blanche and her brother-in-law. Blanche, yearning to escape her current predicament, pins her hopes on Stanley’s friend, Mitch, as her sole means of salvation. However, Stanley’s interference soon dismantles this plan, along with Blanche’s delicate grasp on sanity.

Director Trish Rigdon and her creative design team — including Kevin Rigdon, set and lighting; Dylan Byrnes, sound; and Kristin Knipp, costumes — have meticulously recreated the atmospheric essence of 1947 New Orleans on The Players’ stage, providing an immersive backdrop for this exceptional cast that includes Johanna Bain Johnson as Blanche Dubois, William Windle as Stanley Kowalski, Lauren Bouquet as Stella Kowalski, Angel Cruz as Mitch Mitchell,MollyPoorboy as Eunice Hubbell, Robby Vance as Steve Hubbell, and an ensemble of other characters played by Carla Daws, Pedro Marchessini, and Robert Moritz.

The 1951 film version starred most of the actors from the original Broadway production, including Marlon Brando as Stanley, Karl Malden as Mitch, and Kim Hunter as Stella. However, Jessica Tandy was passed over as Blanche in favor of Vivien Leigh, who played the role in the original London production.