Tennessee Williams Theatre Company of New Orleans To Present A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE

The Tennessee Williams Theatre Company of New Orleans (TWTC) will present its much-anticipated staging of Tennessee Williams' Pulitzer Prize-winning drama A Streetcar Named Desire this summer at the historic Marigny Opera House.

The play will be the centerpiece for the company's 2024 season, collectively themed “Desire”. An all-local team has been assembled to bring the iconic play to life.

The play, which elevated New Orleans' profile as a literary destination and setting for future works of drama and fiction, follows Blanche DuBois over the course of a long summer in which she arrives in the Big Easy amid the hardest of circumstances. She seeks shelter in the home of her sister Stella, which is shared with Stella's husband Stanley. Blanche and Stanley could not be more different—or so it seems—and the tiny two-room apartment becomes unbearably hostile to the genteel and fraught Blanche. She seeks solace in a kind stranger named Mitch, whom she hopes will carry her off into a new chapter of her life, but other forces at play create pressure on all sides of the archetypal Southern heroine. Vice and desire press in on her from all sides, and audiences will be able to peer in on the most private moments in Blanche's tribulations.

“Since our foundation in 2015, people in the community have been asking ‘When will y'all be doing Streetcar?' and the answer has always been the same for us,” says Founding Co-Artistic Director Nick Shackleford, “We want to do Streetcar when we know we can do it justice and not have to cut any corners creatively and financially. We wanted to be sure we assembled an incredible team of local actors, technicians, and designers. There's so much expectation to live up to—doing Streetcar in New Orleans. We really feel like we've got an incredible group, so we're ready to nail it.”

Charlie Carr stars as Blanche, with Elizabeth McCoy and Sean Richmond playing opposite her as Stella and Stanley, respectively. Robinson J. Cyprian makes his TWTC debut as Mitch. Tracey Collins and Robert Mitchell are cast in the roles of Eunice and Steve, the landlords of the French Quarter apartment. The cast also includes Benjamin Adams, Stephanie Baran, Lydia Pena, Miguel Garcia, Quinn Lapeyrouse, Samatha Rohr, and Adrienne Simmons. 

The design team includes Nick Shackleford (sound), Diane K. Baas (lighting), Kelsey Brehm (costumes), Steve Schepker (scenic), Rachel Shannon (properties), Ashley Landrieu (intimacy), & Alex Wallace (stage combat). 

The production is helmed by director Augustin J Correro, TWTC Production Manager Maddie Taliancich & Production Stage Manager Ryan Darby.

“We are excited to bring this fresh production of Streetcar to the stage,” says Correro, “In it, we'll be bringing many of Blanche's interior struggles into the setting around her, which we hope will be a visual feast for our audience, but we also want to carefully honor the material and the history it has in and about the city of New Orleans. This take on the show will have familiar notes but a number of surprises.”

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