" A Streetcar Named Desire"

Underwritten by
MendoLake Credit Union

Get your red hots and head over to Elysian Fields--or rather, Ukiah Players' evocative recreation of Elysian Fields--for a sexy, riveting performance of Tennessee Williams' Masterwork, A Streetcar Named Desire. Ukiah Players Theatre founding matriarch Kate Magruder directs, with Shelley Aisner, Tony Rakes and Nichole Phillips in the starring roles. When A Streetcar Named Desire premiered in 1947 it helped solidify Tennessee William's position in the canon of America's most beloved and revered playwrights. The script is often praised for its in-depth look at working class dynamics, its simmering sexual tensions, and its unforgettable characters. It won both a New York Drama Critics' Circle Award and a Pulitzer Prize in 1948. Later, Marlon Brando, Vivien Leigh and Jessica Tandy starred in the film version, for which Leigh won an Oscar for best Actress. 
 The story opens when fading southern belle Blanche DuBois arrives in post-World War II New Orleans to stay with her sister, Stella. Here Blanche immediately clashes with her brother-in-law, Stanley Kowalski, a man who represents everything she despises: brutality and base animal instincts. Blanche, full of pretension and social graces, intends to find a husband; Stanley ruins her chances with her one and only suitor, Mitch, when he uncovers her recent past as a habitual seducer of men and young boys. Throughout the play Blanche and Stanley are on a collision course, headed for the inevitable violent conclusion to their prolonged power struggle. Magruder, who played Blanche in UPT's 1987 production of Streetcar, couldn't resist the opportunity to direct Williams' masterpiece. "Ukiah could use a good dose of passion and poetry these days, she explained. "Williams reminds us of the roiling and conflicting emotions that can upend our lives, sending us careening down the tracks of desire and desperation. There are no victims or villains in this story--the tragedy is that these characters simply don't understand each other--can't recognize each other--and hopes and even lives are lost and broken as a result." A Streetcar Named Desire is intended for mature audiences only.

Thursday, March 11 - 7:00 PM - Preview
Friday, March 12 - 8:00 PM - Preview
Saturday, March 13 - Closed for Guild Party
Sunday, March 14 - 2:00 PM - Matinee

Thursday, March 18 - 7:00 PM
Friday, March 19 - 8:00 PM
Saturday, March 20 - 8:00 PM
Sunday, March 21 - 2:00 PM - Matinee

Thursday, March 25 - 7:00 PM
Friday, March 26 - 8:00 PM
Saturday, March 27 - 8:00 PM
Sunday, March 28 - 2:00 PM - Matinee

Please call for special Group and Subscription rates.

Tickets are available at Mendocino Book Company on School Street in Ukiah, and through the Ukiah Players Theatre box office at (707) 462-9226, and online.