I’ll admit that I love it when theater gets challenging, risky, and inventive. While this type of re-imagining of the theater experience might not be everyone’s cup of tea, it’s well worth seeking out.
Such is the case with The Streetcar Project’s stripped-down production of Tennessee Williams’ classic drama A Streetcar Named Desire. It is a melodrama about a high-society woman’s descent into madness as the carefully crafted world she created starts to crumble after she moves to New Orleans to live with her sister and her sister’s rough-and-tumble husband.
Normally staged in Stella Dubois’s drowsy, New Orleans shack of a home, The Streetcar Project has stripped away all sets and (most) props to immerse the audience in the words of the iconic playwright.
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Not only that, but the company also performs the play in different locations, proving that the power of theater can be felt anywhere. Performed in spaces like an old movie house, a clothing store, an outside theater in Sandy Hook, CT, a church in NYC, an airport hangar, and, where I saw the show, a woodworking shop in Venice Beach, CA.
The audience in our space surrounded the actors on three sides while most of the show took place in the middle. There were a few forays into the corners and backrooms of the shop, but the actors mostly stayed in and around the inner circle.
This put the audience very close to the actors and each other, creating a really interesting community feel. Not only did you feel really close to the action, but you were close to the emotions and responses of the audience members around you. Everyone could see each other, which is the opposite of a regular theater where you can’t see behind you, and you only see the backs of the heads of the people in front of you. As a result, it was a shared experience that felt intimate and immediate.
Four actors played the main roles, as well as a few supporting characters who occasionally popped in and out.
Lucy Owen (the show’s co-creator) played Blanche DuBois to perfection. With her haughty attitude, we watch as she judges everyone around her while feeling desires she hasn’t felt in a long time. As the show goes on, she slowly unravels as her own secrets and needs come to the surface.
Brad Koed plays tough guy Stanley Kowalski, who keeps it real in an almost terrifying way yet is, in many ways, the play’s voice of reason. Koed shows both sides of Stanley, and it’s to his credit that we don’t totally despise him even when he does things we uniformly hate.
Mallory Portnoy is sister Stella, playing her as a woman comfortable in her choices and confident in where she is in the world; despite her sister trying to make her feel bad about it all. She’s the most down-to-earth but most affected by her sister’s machinations.
James Russell plays Harold Mitchell, a suitor of Balance’s (and a few other roles), brimming with an empathic innocence that softens Blanche – until she takes advantage of it and Harold learns to stand up for himself.
All four actors work beautifully together and are undoubtedly fantastic at adapting to new spaces when performing each show.
Director Nick Westrate (who also co-created the show) does a superb job of keeping the action interesting despite using minimal costumes, props, and unusual spaces.
The one questionable choice is that soft, bluesy music plays in the background throughout the performance and is only softened during occasional sound effects or specific tunes that heighten the narrative.
The music didn’t always match the tone of what was happening on stage, and it was often too loud, making it a distraction. Only once or twice did the music disappear, and it was a relief, but it soon began again.
But that’s my only nit-pick with this inventive and involving creation. Truly thrilling in a way that’s hard to even describe, it’s a production you should absolutely seek out if/when it plays near you.
The Streetcar Project will be traveling to more places to perform, so keep an eye out for their next stop!
For more information about the production and future dates, visit www.thestreetcarproject.com.
