UCSB Presents A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE, Now thru 5/19

The Department of Theater & Dance at UCSB continues its 2012-2013 season of drama and dance with the production of A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams, directed by Irwin Appel. A Streetcar Named Desire performs tonight, May 10 - 19, 2013 in the A Streetcar Named Desire performs in the Performing Arts Theater on the UCSB campus.

Tennessee Williams' towering drama, A Streetcar Named Desire, reveals to the very depths the character of Blanche du Bois, a woman whose life has been undermined by her romantic illusions, which lead her to reject the realities of life with which she is faced. The pressure brought to bear upon her by her sister, with whom she goes to live in New Orleans, is intensified by the earthy young husband of the latter, and leads to a revelation of her tragic self-delusion.

A Streetcar Named Desire marks the first Acting Up Front production from the Department of Theater and Dance. Acting Up Front produces a classical or contemporary play in an intimate setting. The costumes, scenery and lighting are designed to provide a "silhouette" of a world, rather than a fully realistic depiction of one. Acting Up Front allows for an intense focus on character, relationships and the actor's ability to create an imaginative world for an audience where the actors and the words are at the forefront of the production. This approach allows for tremendous freedom, creativity and engagement of the audience, and it allows us all to hear these great plays in a fresh, newly revealing way. The department is excited to present this play "in the round;" the action is surrounded by audience on all sides.

Tennessee Williams was an American writer from the South. Many of his characters were based on his own family and life. His first real success was the play The Glass Menagerie in 1944. His next work, A Streetcar Named Desire, won him a Pulitzer Prize. Later in life, he was insecure that he could not duplicate his early success and used sleeping pills and liquor to quiet his restless mind.

Playwright Tennessee Williams was born Thomas Lanier Williams on March 26, 1911, in Columbus, Mississippi, the second of Cornelius and EdwIna Williams' three children. Raised predominantly by his mother, Williams had a complicated relationship with his father, a demanding salesman who preferred work instead of parenting.

When he was 28, Williams moved to New Orleans, where he changed his name (he landed on Tennessee because his father hailed from there) and revamped his lifestyle, soaking up the city life that would inspire his work, most notably the later play, A Streetcar Named Desire.

On March 31, 1945, a play he'd been working for some years, The Glass Menagerie, opened on Broadway. Critics and audiences alike lauded the play, about a declassed Southern family living in a tenement, forever changing Williams' life and fortunes. Two years later, A Streetcar Named Desire, opened, surpassing his previous success and cementing his status as one of the country's best playwrights. The play also earnEd Williams a Drama Critics' Award and his first Pulitzer Prize.

The 1960s were a difficult time for Williams. His work received poor reviews and increasingly the playwright turned to alcohol and drugs as coping mechanisms. In 1969 his brother hospitalized him. Upon his release, Williams got right back to work. He churned out several new plays as well as Memoirs in 1975, which told the story of his life and his afflictions. But he never fully escaped his demons. Surrounded by bottles of wine and pills, Williams died in a New York City hotel room on February 25, 1983.

Irwin Appel (Director) is Professor of Theater and Director of the BFA Actor Training Program at UCSB. He is also a professional director, Equity actor and composer/sound designer, and has performed with Shakespeare Santa Cruz, Shakespeare Festival/LA, the New York, Oregon, Utah, and Colorado Shakespeare Festivals, The Acting Company, Theatre For a New Audience, Hartford Stage, Indiana Repertory Theatre, and other prominent regional theaters. Acting roles include: Prospero in The Tempest, Shylock in The Merchant of Venice, Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Falstaff in Merry Wives of Windsor, Dogberry in Much Ado About Nothing, Kent in King Lear, Macbeth in Kabuki Macbeth, , Matt in Talley's Folly and the Emperor in a world premiere of Emperor's New Clothes. Since arriving in Santa Barbara, he played the title role in Richard III, Stage Manager in Our Town, DeVere inThe Beard of Avon, Frank in Molly Sweeney, Duke Senior and Duke Frederick in As You Like It, and won Santa Barbara Independent Awards for his portrayals of Oscar Wilde inGross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde and the title role in Theater Artists Group's Timon of Athens. Most recently, he played Aunt Chuck in the LAUNCH PAD production of Appoggiatura by James Still and directed by Department Chair Risa Brainin. He is also artistic director of Naked Shakes, producing award-winning Shakespearean productions at UCSB and traveling to downtown Santa Barbara and Los Angeles since 2006. Directing credits include: The Merchant of Venice, Anowa, Hamlet (SB Indy Award), Measure for Measure, Romeo and Juliet, Rabbit Hole, Twelfth Night, The Winter's Tale (SB Indy Award), Seagull, The Tempest, Angels in America, Three Sisters, Comedy of Errors, Pentecost, A View from the Bridge (SB Indy Award), The Cherry Orchard, Speed-the-Plow, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Crucible, The Countess, Madwoman of Chaillot, Sylvia, Much Ado About Nothing and the world premiere oF Brown Baby (SB Indy Award for his sound design). He also directed twice for The National Theatre Conservatory at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. He has also served as composer/sound designer for the Oregon and New Jersey Shakespeare Festivals, PCPA, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, Ensemble Theatre, Pan Asian Rep, Indiana Rep, and other regional and local theaters. In 2014, he will compose and sound design for a co-production of Other Desert Cities at Arizona Theatre Company and Indiana Repertory Theatre. He is a graduate of Princeton University and the Juilliard School.

Tickets for A Streetcar Named Desire are currently available at the UCSB Theater & Dance Ticket Office located on the UCSB campus, over the phone and online at www.theaterdance.ucsb.edu. To purchase tickets over the phone, please call (805) 893-7221. Ticket prices are $17.00 for general admission and $13.00 for students, seniors, and UCSB faculty & staff. Visit the Theater & Dance website for more details:www.theaterdance.ucsb.edu.

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