Boston Court Performing Arts Center A Streetcar Named Desire Extended! Now playing through April 1

– Courtesy photo

Jaimi Paige (Blanche) and Desean Kevin Terry (Stanley) Jaimi Paige (Blanche), Christopher Ramirez (Young Collector) Desean Kevin Terry (Stanley), Joma Saenz (Steve), Luis Kelly-Duarte (Mitch), Christopher Ramirez (Pablo) Photos by Jeff Lorch. Click the images for high-res.

Boston Court Performing Arts Center announces the extension of their reimagined modern take of Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire. Due to audience demand, the production will now play through April 1, 2018. This radical re-envisioning of Streetcar features a multicultural cast and modern setting, pushing on the play’s present-day relevance.

This production is a Los Angeles Times “Critics’ Choice,” “Ovation Recommended,” from LA Stage Alliance and received a “GO!” from LA Weekly.

Charles McNulty from The Los Angeles Times said, “Michetti’s Boston Court production of ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ represents intimate L.A. Theater at its best. [This] revitalizing production…shakes out the cobwebs of an American classic that hasn’t felt this fresh in a long time.”

Stage Raw calls the production, “Masterful…fresh as a daisy and as powerful as a right hook from Stanley Kowalski…the acting crackles.”  Broadway World said this version of A Streetcar Named Desire is “Must-see theatre at its most innovatively relevant.”

As Blanche, Jaimi Paige’s performance has been called, “Stupendous” (Los Angeles Times), “Luminous…the definitive Blanche DuBois” (Broadway World), and “A thing of beauty” (Talkin’ Broadway).

Director Michael Michetti strips away decades of “Southern gothic gauze” to reveal striking themes of class, race, and gender—reinvigorating the classic which shocked audiences in its debut 70 years ago. By placing a traditional, 1940s era Blanche within a contemporary, multicultural and urban environment familiar to modern audiences but foreign to her, this new production highlights the pertinence of this play for our divided America.

Tickets are $39 with discounts for students, seniors and groups.  They are available at BostonCourt.com or by calling 626.683.6801.

A Streetcar Named Desire originally opened on Broadway in 1947.  Directed by Elia Kazaan, the show starred Jessica Tandy, Marlon Brando, Kim Hunter and Karl Malden. The play would go on to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Tandy would win the Tony Award for best actress in a play. In 1951, the play became a film.  Kazan again directed and Brando, Hunter and Malden reprised their roles.  Vivien Leigh played Blanche in the film and won an Oscar for lead actress, along with Malden for supporting actor and Hunter for supporting actress. The property has also been adapted as an opera, ballet, and numerous times for television.

The original New York Times review by Brooks Atkinson explains Blanche as, “a gently reared Mississippi young woman who invents an artificial world to mask the hideousness of the world she has to inhabit.” In previous productions, Blanche is often portrayed as a woman whose luck has led her to live in a small, squalid apartment with nothing left but costume jewelry and delusions of grandeur.

However, Michetti sees her somewhat differently. Michetti says, “To me, Blanche represents the last desperate cries of privilege. The drama arises as she tries to cling onto a world that no longer exists and refuses to embrace the actual world that she inhabits. In this production, Blanche is an interloper, surrounded by people of different classes and races who speak truthfully and often bluntly about the world in ways that discomfort Blanche. And in the end, her inability to adapt sends her into a downward spiral. I think this production also speaks to current discussions of nationalism.”

Dramaturg Fanshen Cox DiGiovanni adds, “Michael has sought out an inclusive creative team to engage in critical inquiry around the themes that are central to this telling of Streetcar. We wanted to embark on this production in the spirit of investigation, be mindful of the play’s history and mine the new stories that are inherent in Williams’ text.”

This new production looks at Blanche’s behavior in the context of current events and not in a theatrical vacuum, especially given the storied history of this play. Michetti adds, “In the way this cast has been assembled, the production will reflect the broad diversity of our nation. Through the communities represented onstage in this production and these characters that we think we know so well, the story can help us look at our world anew.”

A Streetcar Named Desire is made possible through the generous support of The David Lee Foundation.

More from Arts