By Shari Barrett
New York-based The Streetcar Project recently brought its much discussed, sold-out version of Tennessee Williams’ landmark play A Streetcar Named Desire to Los Angeles for six performances only: three in a Frogtown airplane hangar and three in a Venice Beach warehouse, using Williams’ complete, unabridged text with no props and no set. It was a real treat to be seated in the middle of one of the greatest pieces of American drama ever written while four talented actors brought each of the well-known characters to life.
As many times as I have seen this classic play, this time it was easier to focus on the characters and how their words share their inner turmoil, emotional flaws, and motivations based on physical need or loneliness. Such clarity owes a great deal of thanks to Nick Westrate’s thoughtful direction of the new staging he created with Lucy Owen, who portrays Blanche from the bottom of her heart and soul in the production, bringing the tormented Southern Belle’s persona into crystal-clear focus. At times you feel sorry for her, hoping all her hard times are in the past. But secrets never remain hidden when it comes to women with a less than sterling personal history.
In program notes, co-creators Westrate and Owen share, “Have you ever had anything caught in your head? Williams’ descent into family, sex, death and decay is a haunting: family trauma, relentlessly recurring patterns of destruction. It’s about the abuse we heap upon ourselves, and the pleasures we use to forget. We want to play Williams’ music everywhere, because our ghosts follow us everywhere; when you least expect it, they grab you by the throat, and in a moment you relive the summer that changed your life.”
As such, there is a soundtrack playing throughout the play, often jazz selections which certainly fit the laid-back New Orleans “Big Easy” feeling. Included is the sound of the streetcar named Desire clanking down the tracks at appropriate moments when emotions reach a boiling point between characters, forcing a pause as the noise overwhelms their communication. Neighborhood cats drop by via loud meows, and the rain adds to the super-charged sexual tension at the heart of the play. The production’s immersive nature takes place in one large room with audience members seated in a horse-show of folding chairs from which the actors dressed in everyday modern clothing to suit their roles, drawing you into their lives while hoping everything works out for the best. And of course, it does – eventually. But what a ride along the way!
The four actors often walk in circles around the seated audience, often on opposite sides of the room, surrounding us with their bickering as if we are also characters in the play, although never spoken to directly. Perhaps we are unnamed neighbors listening in, learning more and more as each scene progresses the action to its conclusion, given the palpable chemistry between Stella and Stanley (Mallory Portnoy and Brad Koed) and Blanche’s descent into madness as her tarnished past catches up to her. Thanks to Owen’s portrayal, this is the first time I realized just how much Blanche’s overwhelming passion for her very young and handsome first husband, who turned out to be a “degenerate,” really set her on the road to her emotional demise.
And then there’s poor Mitch (James Russell, who also portrays other poker players and neighbors), hoping Blanche will be the woman he can take home to live with him in his mother’s house. At first, he is dazzled by Blanche’s dreamy fantasies of what life could be, hoping he can offer her more than anyone else. But of course, his dream of her is nothing compared to Blanche’s real world where she sunk even lower than the “common” man her sister Stella married. And once Stanley learns the truth, he can’t wait to put the highfalutin’ Blanche into her place – and out of his home. All four actors give extraordinary performances and I’m so glad I got the chase to see them in action.
These reimagined performances of A Streetcar Named Desire ended locally on November 3. To learn more about the production and The Streetcar Project, visit www.thestreetcarproject.com
Kentwood Players is presenting the hysterical musical comedy The Producers by Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan at Westchester Playhouse, 8301 Hindry Ave., Los Angeles 90045 beginning November 15. This production is directed by Susan Weisbarth, with Musical Direction by Mike Walker, Choreography by Luke Arthur Smith, produced by Gail Bernardi, Margaret Harrington, and Kim Peterson, and sponsored by SCAN Health Plan. The plot is hysterically simple: a down-on-his-luck Broadway producer and his mild-mannered accountant come up with a scheme to produce the most notorious flop in history, thereby bilking their backers (all “little old ladies”) out of millions of dollars. Only one thing goes awry: the show is a smash hit!
Featured in the cast are Emmon Amid, Darian Calderon, Joshua Caleb, Steven Didrick, Yas Modares Ghasiri, Katie Hamilton, Lillian Kautz, Charles Keppler, Jason Lubin, Elina Luong, Katie MacDonald, Roy Okida, Katelynn Ostler, Jeremy Palmer, Lyndsay Palmer, Karl Schott, Sarah Scialli, Jon Sparks, Shawn Summerer, Lynn Valkov, and Rebecca Wade.
Performance dates are Friday, November 15 through Saturday, December 14 (dark November 29-December 1) on Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., and Sundays at 2 p.m. Saturday matinees at 2 p.m. will be added on November 23 and continue through the rest of the run. Reserved seats are $30 with a $4 discount for seniors, children, students and military, available online at www.kentwoodplayers.org, by emailing boxoffice@kentwoodplayers.org, or by calling (310) 645-5156. Based on availability, $10 rush tickets may be offered at the box office 30 minutes before curtain time at select performances.
Written and directed by playwright Melvin Ismael Johnson and produced by Bryan Caldwell for ArtsUP! LA, Soldier to Soldier is a character-driven play offering a first-hand view of the plight of veterans on Skid Row and the myriad of challenges they face returning to civilian life. At its center are five veterans who unite through their military service and, despite all the unfortunate things that have happened to them, still have each other’s backs. Each is determined to uphold the dual nature of the military to protect the nation while on active duty and to serve the community at home by providing experience and maturity. But with so many veterans facing homelessness, how can they be given the chance to do so?
The cast features both veterans and civilians: Tejay Bah, Miguel Berlingeri, Ronnie ‘Talksho’ Chism, Anthony Lorenzo Garcia, Roslynn Samone Glasco, Crystal Nix, Jenny Noguera, Pam Paulson, Nina Rancel, Sacha Versavel, Vince Wainwright, and Jonathan Wyne.
Performances run November 15 through November 24 on Fridays & Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 3 p.m. at ArtsUP! LA’s theater, The Blue Door, located at 9617 Venice Blvd. Culver City 90232. General admission tickets are $20, available online at https://www.artsupla.org/ with discounts available at the box office for veterans, seniors, and students with proper ID.
Founded in 1993 by Adilah Barnes and Miriam Reed, the Los Angeles Women’s Theatre Festival is the oldest Solo Festival for women in the city, celebrating powerful women performers. The group is presenting Women’s Voices, a FREE afternoon of storytelling, with a Q&A and reception following, in Culver City by women of Culver City, this Saturday, November 9 at 3 p.m. at the Culver City Veterans Memorial Building, Rotunda Room, 4117 Overland Avenue, Culver City 90230. The women’s performances are directed by Terrie Silverman, who is a writer, director, dramaturg, and CEO of Creative Rites. Please reserve your seat at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/womens-voices-tickets-1004867063437 as those with reservations will be admitted first. For more information, please call (818) 760-0408, visit lawtf.org, or e-mail info@lawtf.org
