By Linda Cranford, LLT Board of Directors Publicity Chair
Laurel Little Theatre’s next production of the Pulitzer Prize winning play “A Streetcar Named Desire,” written by Mississippi native Tennessee Williams, opens Thursday, February 23, and runs through Sunday, February 26, with performances beginning at 7:30 p.m. each night and at 2 p.m. on Sunday. Reservations can be made by calling 601-428-0140.
This iconic drama begins on a steamy afternoon in the heart of the French Quarter in New Orleans, when Blanche, a fading relic of the Old South, but a classic Southern belle from Laurel, Mississippi, unexpectedly visits her sister Stella and her brutish husband Stanley. Blanche, who has no place to go but to her sister’s, having lost practically everything in Mississippi, enters with her trunk filled with jewels and furs for an undetermined length of stay in the two-room apartment. Painting a wistful and romantic picture of her life, Blanche is teetering on the fence between sanity and insanity due to the events of her past, and delivers that famous line "Whoever you are, I have always depended on the kindness of strangers."
From the beginning Stanley takes a dislike to Blanche and her aristocratic affectations and suspects that she is holding out on inheritance money that rightfully belongs to Stella.
Trying to forget her checkered past and start life anew, Blanche is attracted to Stanley's best friend Mitch and she glosses over the less savory incidents in her past. However, she soon discovers that she cannot outrun that past, and the stage is set for her final, brutal confrontation with her brother-in-law that pushes her over the edge into insanity.
LLT’s veteran actress and director, Amanda Robertson Gwin, is directing this famous drama with a lead cast that includes JCJC Art Instructor Paula Pierce as Blanche, Laurel Middle School Teacher Katelyn Bryant as Stella, JCJC Vice President of Business Affairs Rick Youngblood as Stanley, and Howard Industry Draftsman Ben West as Mitch who delivers an unforgettable dramatic ride, filled with love, loss and the dream of what's to come.
Other cast members include Tod Lightsey (Steve Hubble), Teresa Raybourn (Eunice Hubble), Brent Holifield (Pablo), Marian Latimer (Gertrude), Scotty Whitehurst (Young Collector), Jillian Rochelle (Mexican Flower Seller), Melissa Vowell (Nurse) and Landon Bryant (Doctor).
In April a revival of “A Streetcar Named Desire” is scheduled to open on Broadway and the cast will include Blair Underwood in one of the leading roles.
Local author Marcell Harwell recently published her book “The Real Blanche Dubois of A Streetcar Named Desire” that reveals the plays leading character’s alleged true identity as being a native of Laurel. Harwell will be at the theatre each night and theatre goers will have an opportunity to purchase the book.
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