Theatre South Carolina presents
written by
tennessee
williams
directed by
chris clavelli
September 30
through
October 8, 2011
Drayton Hall
Theatre
Special thanks to our
DONORS!
Supporters of Theatre South Carolina
through our donor group
and through annual giving to the university of sc
(including the usc family fund)
Rick and Rory Ackerman
Georgiana Baker
Dr. Sarah Baxter
Anne Bezuidenhout
Sally Boyd
Podie and Hal Brunton
Anthony Brett Butler
Dave and Sandy Cowen
Dr. Max Dent
Mary Ellen Doyle
Robert and Judith Felix
John F. Hamilton
John and Lucrecia Herr
Elizabeth Joiner and Buford Norman
Richard Katz
Nina and Arnold Levine
Bob and Mylla Markland
Deanne K. Messias
Mr. and Mrs. L. Fred Miller
Linda and Jeff Moulton
Teresa Payne
Jeff and Brigitte Persels
Dennis Pruitt
James B. Robey
Dan Sabia
Willard Renner
Prof. and Mrs. John Safko
Dr. and Mrs. Jaime L. Sanyer
Dr. Roger Sawyer
William Schmidt
Brenda Shumpert
Brownie and Nancy Sides
Elizabeth Simmons and Al Sadowski
Wally and Barbra Strong
Steve Valder
Dick White
THANK YOU!
Join the CIRCLE today!
Visit our website for more information:
WWW.CAS.SC.EDU/THEA
(click on “The circle” link on the left-hand side)
List compiled from donations received at time of printing, September, 2011.
2
Theatre South Carolina
presents
written by
tennessee williams
directed by
chris clavelli*†
scenic design...................................................................brad cozby
costume design...................................................lisa martin-stuart
lighting design ...............................................................marc hurst
sound design............................................danielle almeida wilson
hair/wig/make-up design .....................................valerie pruett
stage manager........................................................becky koeller
production manager .........................................k. dale white *
voice/text/dialog coach ...............................louis colainanni
fight choreographer/fight coach ................lauren koch
cast
lanche dubois...........................................................yvonne senat
b
stanley kowalski..............................................................joe mallon
stella kowaslki....................................................................jessi noel
harold mitchell (mitch)............................................sam kinsman
steve hubbell.....................................................................trey hobbs
eunice hubbell..............................................................lauren koch
pablo gonzales......................................................stephen canada
neighbor woman/flower vendor u/s...................sirena dibb
flower vendor...........................................................katie mccuen
a young collector..........................................liam madougall
matron/nurse..................................................brittany anderson
doctor.......................................................................rick ackerman
There will be two intermissions.
*Appears by permission of Actors’ Equity Association. This theatre operates under an agreement
between the Uni­versity Resident Theatre management program and Actors Equity, the union of
professional actors and stage managers in the United States.
† Member of The Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers.
FROM THE CHAIR
Jim Hunter
It has always been our mission to bring to our students and
our community theatrical works of the highest caliber by the
master artists of the form. It is particularly special, then, to
have the chance to showcase the wider range of a legendary playwright’s canon.
Such was the case when we decided that our Fall, 2011 semester would be the perfect time to celebrate the life and work of American
playwright, Tennessee Williams. In this, the 100th anniversary of Williams’
birth, we originally sought to present just one of his seminal works. However,
we soon realized that we had an incredible opportunity to shine a light on the
spectacular breadth of Williams’ genius, both for those new to his works and
those who have been lifelong Williams fans.
On our stages during this festival are plays that highlight the massive impact
of Williams on the American theatre, and perhaps none stretched the conventions of the art form more than A Streetcar Named Desire. With an unflinching
approach to characters and situations which challenge societal norms, and its
juxtaposition of naturalistic settings with heightened “inner” spaces, Streetcar
opened up avenues for writers which continue to be explored today.
Williams dedication to the craft is plainly evident in the four short plays we
present in An Evening of One-Acts. Especially notable is The Pretty Trap, an
early version of The Glass Menagerie. We’re one of only a handful of theatres
around the country to have presented the piece, which was only recently uncovered and first performed as a staged reading in NY in 2005. The Pretty
Trap -- indeed, all of the short plays -- provide a fantastic opportunity to appreciate Williams’ process, as each piece gives a glimpse into how he would
employ character sketches and reoccurring motifs into the classic major
works we all know today.
I hope you enjoy these productions as much as we have enjoyed putting them
together for you.
WELCOME to our Tennessee Williams Festival!
Jim Hunter
Chair, Department of Theatre and Dance
Artistic Director, Theatre South Carolina
4
FROM THE DIRECTOR
Chris Clavelli
Tennessee Williams was terrified. Shortly after his huge success with his first Broadway production, The Glass Menagerie in 1945, he set out to clear his mind on a cross-country
journey. He’d barely made it to Arizona when he had emergency surgery for a blocked intestine. The surgeon let him
know he almost died on the table. Williams, a spectacular
hypochondriac, who thought for sure he would never recover, vowed to write his final play. And in a short time, he penned A Streetcar
Named Desire. His opus.
Williams loved the solo act of travel. He was an outsider, the odd man in the
bunch. Having grown up in the Deep South, his tender nature made him the
object of ridicule and humiliation, so he knew from loneliness.
All of us here in the Streetcar company also know a little about being the outsider, of wrestling with our differences, of loneliness. And it is precisely that
knowledge that makes us want to shine our light on the world. To reveal that
part of our nature that no one in the civilized world would dream of sharing.
This is the thing that sets artists apart from the rest of mankind.
But let’s face it, it ain’t easy sharing your secrets with a theatre full of strangers every night! But we in the company were lucky -- we had a role model
for this kind of emotional daredevilry: Blanche Dubois, our heroine. Blanche
says it herself: “I don’t want realism, I want magic!” And if she had one desire
in her life, it was to make the world a beautiful place. A worthy pursuit. But,
by the end of her sanity, she’s forced to take on the ultimate role of her life as
persecuted artist; she tells the truth, unvarnished and horrible. Does she think
these truths will set her free? If they do, they come with a dear price. Her
honesty, her artistry was our beacon throughout rehearsals.
The young artists that you see tonight went for it. “They fought, they bled for
it.” We hope our truths will set you free a little so that when you see a lonely
woman with one too many bags by her feet, nursing a cup of coffee at McDonalds, you’ll give this outsider, this artist, a second thought. A kind thought.
Chris Clavelli
Director, A Streetcar Named Desire
The theatre programs of the USC Department of Theatre and Dance are accredited by the National
Association of Schools of Theatre. The Department is a member of the University/Resident
Theatre Association and is affiliated with the Shakespeare Theatre ofWashington, DC
and the Milwaukee Repertory Theatre.
5
CAST
Rick Ackerman
Doctor
Rick Ackerman is a retired
business professional. After a 40-year career in Information Technology, Rick
is fulfilling a life-long dream by studying
acting (not to mention learning to be a
rock drummer) at USC. He is a world
traveler and author of his own website:
www.AckTwo.com, which he invites you
to visit. Rick made his stage debut in
“The Skin of Our Teeth” at Theater South
Carolina and is very happy to return in
“Streetcar”. Rick was last seen in “A Few
Good Men” at Workshop Theater. He is
excited for the opportunity to work with
and learn from Chris and to perform with
such a talented cast and crew.
Brittany Anderson
Matron/Nurse Brittany Anderson is a senior theatre major here at
the University of South
Carolina. She has previously been seen at USC as: The Babble
in Kid Simple; Oxana, Sister Butterworth,
and others in The Book of Liz; Maria Josefa in Lorca: Alone in a Dream; and Circe
in Amy Holtcamp’s Odysseys. She is also
an officer of Green Room Productions,
USC’s undergraduate theatre organization that supports and funds original
student work. She will be seen next as
the part of Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet in
the LAB Theatre this November, and she
will be directing an original, ensemble-led
Commedia Dell’Arte play in the LAB next
February for her senior thesis for the Honors College. Brittany is grateful for the
opportunity to be a part of this fun, loving, and fun-loving cast, and she hopes
everybody enjoys the show!
Stephen Canada
Pablo Gonzales
Stephen Canada is a Junior at USC from Surfside
Beach, SC. He is a biology major with a minor
in theater. He didn’t start
his career in theater until the end of his
freshman year at USC, but Stephen has
always had a love for singing and movies
which has propelled him into wanting to
grow and develop as an actor in his college career. This is his first show on the
Main stage at USC, but his first stage experience was as a Nazi soldier in Bent in
the LAB Theater. Stephen would like to
thank his parents and girlfriend for always
supporting him in his heart’s desires, and
also the cast and crew for making this
show such a wonderful experience.
Sirena Dib
Neighbor Woman/Flower
Vendor (Understudy)
Sirena is a rising junior, majoring in international studies and minoring in theatre.
Her recent theatre credits include Workshop Theatre’s Cinderella (Cinderella),
Hairspray (Teen Council), Town Theatre’s
Harvey (Myrtle Mae), Gypsy (Agnes), Annie Get Your Gun, and Moon Over Buffalo (Eileen). Her recent backstage work
includes Town Theatre’s White Christmas,
The Odd Couple and The Buddy Holly
Story encore. Sirena would like to thank
her family and friends for all their support,
with special thanks to her sister, Tatiana.
Also, Sirena would like to thank the cast,
crew, and production team for making
her USC theatre experiences possible!
Trey Hobbs
Steve Hubbell
Trey Hobbs is, as of 2009,
a graduate of USC’s undergraduate theatre program and is very glad that
he was able to come back and do this
show at his alma mater. While at USC,
some of Trey’s favorite roles have been
Greg in Sylvia, Sir Edwarde Clark in Gross
Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde, and Stephano in The Tempest. Since
graduating Trey has also played Le Bret
in Cyrano and the Wazir/Ensemble in The
Arabian Nights here at USC. Other roles
Trey has had are Greg in Reasons to be
Pretty and Adam in Jewtopia at Trustus
Theatre and Pinky in the NiA Group’s
production of Our Lady of 121st street.
Participating in another aspect of theatre
production, Trey has enjoyed his experience as a lighting designer. His credits
for this include The Last Days of Judas
Iscariot, Sylvia, The Rediscovery of North
America, and Iphigenia and Other Daughters for USC’s Lab Theatre; Extremeties,
Last Summer at Blue Fish Cove, The
Great American Trailer Park Musical at
Trustus Theatre; and Our Lady of 121st
Street for the NiA Group. He would also
like to thank is wife for her invaluable support and grace. Enjoy the show.
Sam Kinsman
Harold Mitchell (Mitch)
Sam Kinsman is a 2nd
year MFA candidate from
Orange County, California.
He received his BA in Theatre Arts from Azusa Pacific University
and thinks about the Pacific Ocean often.
Previous roles include Nikos in USC’s
production of Big Love and Ananais Dare
in The Lost Colony. Thank you to Chris
for an opportunity to tell this beautiful
story, and to the cast and crew for their
diligence and passion. He would like to
dedicate this performance to his sister
Amanda.
Lauren Koch
Eunice Hubbell/Fight Choreographer & Coach
Lauren Koch is a senior
theater major at USC with
a minor in business. Previous roles at USC include
Mrs. Gottlieb in Dead Man’s Cell Phone,
Mrs. Roeder in Radium Girls, and Valvert
in Cyrano. She has also co-created and
directed two original collaborative works,
The Yellow Wallpaper and Sounds We
Cannot Hear, with the support of Green
Room Productions. She was recently
certified in six weapons by the Society of
American Fight Directors after attending
the National Stage Combat Workshop for
Advanced Actor Combatants this past
summer in North Carolina. She would
like to thank the director for the opportunity to work on such a monumental play,
and to everyone involved for a creating a
wonderfully fulfilling artistic endeavor.
Liam MacDougall
A Young Collector This is Liam’s fourth show
at USC. He is a sophomore
theatre major at USC and
is very excited for the opportunity to work on another main stage
show. He began acting as a senior in the
high school play The Sound of Music as
Captain Vonn Trapp and this ignited his
passion for acting. He has gone on to
play in two main stage shows and one
lab show here at USC in his freshman
year. He would like to thank the Stephens
family, his boys, and especially his Mom,
Dad and sister for their ever present and
continued support.
Joe Mallon
Stanley Kowalski
Joe Mallon is a 2nd year
MFA Acting Candidate at
USC. He has performed
on the USC stage as Piero/Bubba in BIG LOVE, Aristarkh in THE
SUICIDE, and Antiphelus of Syracuse
in COMEDY OF ERRORS. He received
his undergraduate degree from New
York University’s Tisch School of the Arts
where he graduated with a BFA in Acting. Other credits include The Dentist
in LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS (Devon
Theater), Alan in PICNIC (Montgomery
Theater), El Gallo in THE FANTASTICKS
(Kimmel Center), Lt. Jack Ross in A FEW
GOOD MEN (Ritz Theatre), and Pharaoh from JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT
(New Candlelight Theatre). He would
like to thank the wonderful people at
USC, the cast and crew of STREETCAR, and his family and friends for
their continued support.
Katie McCuen
Flower Vendor
Katie is a senior Visual Communications
major and a Theatre
minor. While in Columbia, she has worked on several
theatrical projects including Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues and a
student written Greenroom Production play. Last summer, she earned
partial scholarship to attend the New
York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts
where she lived in Brooklyn and got a
taste of the professional acting world.
Off stage, she has enjoyed designing
for USC’s Theatre marketing department. She loves to challenge herself,
rising to a new creative task every
day. She is very excited to be in a
main stage performance and is loving the experience!
Jessi Noel
Stella Kowalski
8
Jessi Noel received
her BA in Theatre from
Jacksonville State University. She is a 2nd
year graduate student in the MFA
program and has enjoyed her experience here so much. Some of her favorite roles so far have been Lydia in
Big Love and Viktor in The Suicide.
Her family lives in Pensacola, FL and
is very excited about this department
and all that she has learned. She
looks forward to more plays in the fu-
ture here at USC.
Yvonne Senat
Blanche DuBois
Yvonne Senat, originally from Southern
California, is currently
a 2nd year MFA Acting
Candidate. She graduated from California State University of Long Beach
with a B.A. in Theatre Arts. Previous
roles on the USC Mainstages include
the Courtesan in Comedy of Errors,
Cleopatra Maximovna in The Suicide,
and Thyona in Big Love. Saint Monica in The Last Days of Judas Iscariot,
Mrs.Gibbs in Our Town, and Helen of
Troy in Trojan Women are some of the
roles she played in California. She’s
excited to be working with Chris
Clavelli again and is incredibly grateful for the opportunity to take on this
iconic role. Enjoy the show!
ARTISTIC COMPANY
Chris Clavelli
Director
Chris Clavelli directed
last year’s production
of Big Love for Theatre South Carolina
and recently performed his one man
show, A Little More Than You Wanted
to Spend, at The Lab Theatre. Chris
is the Associate Artistic Director of
The Florida Repertory Theatre and
currently serves on the faculty of The
New York Conservatory for Dramatic
Arts and The Cooper Union Connect
Program. Directing Credits: The Florida Repertory Theatre, The Actors
Studio, The NY Fringe Festival, Virginia Stage Company, Two River Theatre, Riverside Theatre, Off Square
Theatre, Depot Theatre, Greenbrier
Valley Theatre, The Chenango River
Theatre and 78th Street Theatre.
Chris collaborated with The South
West Florida Symphony to create
Star Crossed Lovers; a marriage of
Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet suites
with Shakespeare’s classic text. He
served as The Co-Artistic director
for both The Neighborhood Theatre
for Kids and Brave New World Theatre Company in Brooklyn. As an actor Chris has worked Off-Broadway
(debut, All in the Timing at The John
Houseman) and around the country.
Representative theatres: The Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Actors
Theatre of Louisville, The Kennedy
Center, Florida Repertory Theatre,
Florida Stage, The Hangar, The Paper Mill Playhouse, The Virginia Stage
Company, Philadelphia Theatre
Company, The Barter, The Stamford
Center for the Arts, The Burt Reynolds Institute, The Caldwell and The
Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati. He
received The Best Actor Carbonell
for his performance in The Mystery of
Irma Vep at The Florida Shakespeare
Festival and The Barrymore Award as
part of the ensemble in The Philadelphia Theatre Companies production
of Sideman. He is a nominee for the
prestigious Alan Schneider Directing
Award through Theatre Communications Group as well as Performer of
the Year through The Alliance for the
Arts in Lee County, Florida. TV: The
Sopranos, Rescue Me, Law and Order, All My Children, Another World
and many commercials and voiceovers. For Jay and Lee.
Brad Cozby
Scenic Designer
Brad Cozby is a third
year M.F.A. candidate
in Lighting Design.
He received his BA
in Theatre at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, AZ. This will be his
tenth design at USC, while only his
first scenic design. His last lighting
design was the production of Dead
Man’s Cell Phone for the Lab Theatre Series. Some of his past notable designs include Our Country’s
Good, Bent, The Suicide, The Arabian Nights, Kabuki Lady Macbeth and
the CD premier concert of Christian
music artist Justin Unger. You can
also see more examples of his scenic design at the Tennessee Williams
One-Act festival at Longstreet Theatre. To see other designs of his, visit
his website at www.lostcozdesigns.
com.
Lisa Martin-Stuart
Costume Designer
Professor Martin-Stuart has served as the
Head of the Costume
Design Program at
the University of South Carolina for
the past 17 years. Her training is in
costume design, historical costume
research, and costume technology. She has contributed on over
60 productions for Theatre South
Carolina, including the recent Cyrano de Bergerac and Gravity, which
performed in 2008 at the Connelly
Theatre in New York City and the
2008 production of The Violet Hour.
Design credits in film include: Ruby
in Paradise, winner of the 1993 Sundance Film Festival starring Ashley
Judd; Ulee’s Gold (1997) starring Peter Fonda, winner of the Best Actor
Golden Globe Award; and, Coastlines (2002) starring Josh Brolin and
Timothy Olyphant. She has designed costumes for several regional
theatres including American Folklore
Theatre, Asolo State Theatre, Aquila
Theatre Company of London, Char-
9
lotte Repertory Theatre and Hippodrome State Theatre. Lisa continues
to work as the wardrobe stylist for
Mad Monkey, a nationally recognized
media production company, and has
collaborated on numerous national
and regional award winning television commercials including University of South Carolina’s Bicentennial
Campaign and “Cheerleader” from
the USC 2004 recruitment campaign.
Professor Martin-Stuart also serves
as the Director of Undergraduate
Studies for the Department of Theatre and Dance.
Marc Hurst
Lighting Designer
Marc is a third year
MFA Lighting student.
After a year as Master
Electrician at Florida
Repertory Theatre, he was pleased
to design the Lab Theater production of Language of Angels and The
Winter’s Tale at USC last year. Marc
earned his BA in Theatrical Lighting
Design from SUNY Geneseo, where
his favorite designs included The
Clean House, The Pillowman, Incorruptable, and any dance concerts he
could get. Last summer Marc was
master electrician at The Lost Colony.
Danielle Almeida
Wilson
Sound Designer
10
Danielle is always
pleased to return to
Theater South Carolina. She graduated from the MFA
lighting design program at USC in
2003. She worked as the house lighting designer for the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center’s Spirit Square
where she lit Derek Trucks, The Avett
Brothers, Arlo Guthrie, and Eve En-
sler, among others. She returned to
USC and worked for four years as
the Assistant Technical Director for
lighting and sound. Danielle is currently a freelance lighting and sound
designer. She would like to thank her
(growing!) family.
Louis Colainanni
Vocal/Text/
Dialog Coach
Louis Colaianni most
recently served as dialect coach to Bill Murray for the upcoming film, “Hyde
Park On Hudson.” He was vocal
coach to Will Ferrell for the Broadway and HBO productions of “You’re
Welcome, America.” He was also
dialect coach for the soon-to-be-released film “Little Red Wagon.” OffBroadway, he was dialect coach for
“The Little Flower of East Orange,”
directed by Phillip Seymour Hoffman
at the LAByrinth Theatre. He served
as Voice and Text Director for three
seasons at The Oregon Shakespeare
Festival, and has coached voice and
dialects for productions at the Utah
Shakespearean Festival, Milwaukee
Rep, Trinity Rep, Seattle Rep, Kansas
City Rep, Arizona Theatre Company,
McCarter Theatre and Williamstown
Theatre Festival. His books include
How to Speak Shakespeare, The Joy
of Phonetics and Accents, Bringing
Speech to Life, and Shakespeare’s
Names: A New Pronouncing Dictionary. Colaianni teaches Acting Classics at The Actors Studio MFA program at Pace University, in New York
City.
Valerie Pruett
Hair/Wigs/Makeup
Valerie is the instructor
and designer for hair
and makeup at Theatre South Carolina.
She started out in professional theatre as a makeup and hair artist for
such outdoor pageants as Tecumseh! and Unto These Hills. After paying her dues with the outdoor circuit
Valerie went on to work and subcontract with several regional theaters including Milwaukee Repertory
Theatre, American Players’ Theatre,
Utah Shakespearean Festival, Dallas
Theatre Center, Hippodrome, New
American Theatre, Heritage Repertory Theatre and most recently the
American Folklore Theatre. Before
returning to USC, Valerie was a guest
instructor and artist at the University
of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Professional Theatre Training Program and
at Lawrence University in Appleton,
WI. She is a registered artist with the
SC Film Commission and the makeup artist for the Addy Award-winning
media company, Mad Monkey.
Becky Koeller
Stage Manager
Becky is a Senior Theatre major. She has
worked as crew on
Radium Girls, Arabian
Nights and others. She assistant
stage managed Big Love, and stage
managed The Suicide. She is very excited to be working with Chris again.
She is very grateful for the opportunities that are being given to her in the
Theatre Department here at USC.
K. Dale White
Production
Manager/Stage Manager Advisor
K. Dale is a proud member of Actors’ Equity.
He has worked on Broadway, Off
Broadway, regionally and has toured.
He has worked with David Rabe,
Richard Greenberg, Anna Deavere
Smith, George C. Wolfe, Will Eno,
Tony Kushner, John Rando, James
Taylor and Billy Joel, among others.
Other credits include: The Berkshire
Theatre Festival, Shakespeare and
Company, Playwrights Horizons, The
Public Theatre, Manhattan Theatre
Club, La Mama, Cambridge Theatre
Company, The American Repertory
Theatre, Chamber Theatre Productions, Available Light, Opera Theatre
St. Louis, the Repertory Theatre of
St. Louis, The Alley Theatre, STAGES, and the Alaska Repertory Theatre. He teaches Stage Management
at the University of South Carolina,
Department of Theatre and Dance,
Columbia, SC. He has taught at Emerson College, Boston, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA and Bard
College at Simon’s Rock, Great Barrington, MA. K. Dale is a graduate
of the Conservatory of Theatre Arts,
Webster University, St. Louis, MO.
Walter Clissen
Sound Design Advisor
Walter has 25+ years
of experience in all
aspects of the audio
world. He received his
BFA/MFA from the Higher Institute
of Theatre and Culture Spreading in
Brussels, Belgium. Born in Belgium
and working in venues all over Europe, he moved to Los Angeles, CA in
1988. His Sound Designs have been
11
A NOTE FROM THE DRAMATURG
Set in a diverse corner of New Orleans in
1947, A Streetcar Named Desire has at
once a specific set of cultural and historical
encumbrances and an enigmatic and selfdestructive author that any artistic team
tackling this classic play - and the audience
receiving it - should acknowledge, in order to
fully understand, appreciate, and experience
the work of art in the most meaningful way.
The Great Depression having ended and
World War II finally over, America was
beginning to experience its first period of
relative peace and stability in decades. Men
returned home from the war, and the “Baby
Boomers” first entered the scene. Ironically,
this period also marks the beginning of the
Cold War with Soviet Russia, a phase of
political instability that would stretch across
nearly half a century.
Settling in America, immigrants’ children
considered themselves as American as
anyone else, broadening the definition of the
term, and furthering the notion of America as
The Great Melting Pot. As Stanley was both
a member of the army and the progeny of
Polish heritage, he seems to feel this way
himself.
Tucked away in a corner of diverse America,
a smaller, yet no less varied melting pot of its
own existed in New Orleans, “The City That
Care Forgot”. A city also widely known for its
excess in all areas of life, “The Big Easy” has
been home to a number of artists, literary and
otherwise, including Tennessee Williams.
Williams lived in New Orleans while he was
writing Streetcar, at 632 St. Peter Street,
in the heart of the French Quarter, where
the play takes place. The Quarter, itself a
corner of New Orleans, is also home to the
famed Bourbon Street, Mardi Gras, and the
restaurant Galatoire’s, where Stella takes
Blanche the night of the poker party.
Also running through the French Quarter is
the now (in)famous railcar line, constructed
in 1920, called Desire. Williams himself lived
near the Desire and Cemetery streetcar
lines, remarking that “their indiscouragable
progress up and down Royal Street struck me
as having some symbolic bearing of a broad
nature on the life” in the French Quarter.
They are, in fact, the very lines that Blanche
herself rides, transferring from Desire to
Cemetery to arrive at the small home of
Stanley and Stella. The juxtaposition of the
Neal Tucker
railcar names, pertaining to passion and
mortality, are uncanny in their relationship to
the play and its characters. “Death,” Blanche
says, is “the opposite of desire.”
Tennessee Williams’ life was fraught with
difficulties, both internal and external. His
own family was a collection of unstable
characters; his sister institutionalized and his
mother not too sane herself. In Williams’ own
words, she “was essentially more psychotic
than my sister Rose”.
A rather tragically comic story Williams tells
of his mother is indicative of his life at home,
and it reveals the instability of a fragile and
sensitive soul:
A year or so before Mother died, she believed
she had a horse living with her in her room.
She didn’t like its presence at all, and she
complained bitterly about this imaginary
horse that moved into the place with her.
She’d always wanted a horse as a child. And
now that she finally had one, she didn’t like it
one bit.
It isn’t much of a stretch from this to see
the impenetrable complexity with which
Tennessee dealt nearly all his adult life -- the
strain of which would lead to him to depend
heavily on alcohol and drugs (which would
eventually kill him) and forge the impulse to
write a character such as Blanche, with the
enormity of her own mental and emotional
struggles.
Personally, Tennessee also struggled at times
to embrace his own sexuality in a much less
accepting time period of our nation’s history.
As the equality movement for the LGBT
community is still ongoing in this country,
Williams was about as openly homosexual as
one might be in the 1940s.
While he did not seem ashamed of his sexual
orientation, he was not he shouting it from the
rooftops either. In fact, he would not write at
length about it until his Memoirs, published in
1975, several decades after his most famous
and successful plays were written: A Streetcar
Named Desire,The Glass Menagerie, and Cat
on a Hot Tin Roof.
Blanche, likewise, grapples with coming to
terms with her own life, far different from the
one she envisioned herself having as a young
girl, in love with the boy of her dreams. She
refuses to accept an identity at odds with
her past, as she wishes others to perceive
of her as bearing a refined and delicate
sense of ethics and feminine conduct, all
while entering an unfamiliar world in the
French Quarter of New Orleans in which
Stella - her own sister - seems strangely
unrecognizable.
Blanche’s life is an unending encounter with
one problem after another. Death, it seems,
has made a home for itself on her doorstep,
with each new tragedy, regardless of size,
nudging her closer and closer to a complete
mental breakdown. To cope, like an artist,
subtle yet subversive, she imagines a world
in her mind that allows her to escape from
the harsh light of reality.
Unfortunately, her inability to grow and
her unwillingness to acknowledge the
facts of her existence ultimately lead to
her disintegration and inevitable collapse
into the arms of a shattering realism. What
Williams once said of his mother is true also
of Blanche: “Her fantasies got the best of
her.”
the often complicated, confusing world in
which we live daily. It allows us to escape in
order to accept -- to retreat into the worlds
that our minds create in order to face this
one more confidently upon our return.
The author tacitly asks the audience to take
part, to imagine the story along with him.
As one writer has said, Williams wants to
bring us along for the ride as “he invites all
men to share” in the construction of “that
missing part of human existence which
awards meaning and provides comfort in
an unfriendly world.”
Tennessee Williams’ iconic play delves
into these questions of the garish nature
of reality, the fantastical magic of the
imagination, and the lengths to which a
broken soul will go to make her life seem
meaningful, significant, even sincere - or,
at the very least, to dim the harsh light on
her life, to make her existence a little less
unbearable.
Art, Williams seems to be telling us, allows
us to imagine, to inhabit worlds other than
WADSWoRTH
Chamber Music Series
Featuring Edward Arron & Friends
Presented by U.S. Trust
2011 - 2012 Season
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Wednesday, December 4, 2011
Internationally acclaimed artistic director
Edward Arron and world-renowned musicians
perform in the Museum’s gorgeous
DuBose-Poston Reception Hall.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Season pass: $150 or $125 for museum members
Single concert: $35 or $30 for members
Students: $5 the day of the concert
Presenting Sponsor
For tickets: columbiamuseum.org or 803.799.2810.
heard internationally in Theatre and
Opera houses (e.g. L.A.’s Center for
Bilingual Arts, La Mama ETC - New
York City, PCPA Theatrefest - Santa
Maria-Solvang CA, Arizona Repertory Theatre - Tucson AZ, Romanian
National Theatre - Cluj, Romania,
The Flanders Opera - Belgium, etc.).
Recent work includes Arno Raunig’s
Barrock and Subsonic Sonar’s Emerald Green Vortex. He composed and
designed the new musical, Seven
Stars in Paradise, with his partners
Jean-Louis Milford (France) and
Francis Dixon (England). He started
Sound Design on a new musical
My Fairy Tale (a musical about Hans
Christian Andersen, original idea &
concept by Flemming Enevold, Music & Lyrics by Stephen Schwartz,
book by Phillip LaZeb), commissioned by PCPA Theatrefest to have
it’s American premiere Summer 2011
in Solvang, CA. He has taught several audio courses, workshops and
lectures in Europe, at UCLA, CSU
Fresno, Pacific Conservatory of Performing Arts in Santa Maria,CA, and
at the University of Arizona in Tucson,
AZ. He is currently Asst. Professor
in Sound Design at the University of
South Carolina teaching Sound Design courses for the Dept. of Theatre
and Dance and the Dept. of Media
Arts.
Sam Gross
Assistant Technical Director
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Sam Gross is a graduate of Indiana University where he earned an
MFA in Theatre Technology. He specializes in mechanized scenery, computer-controlled systems, electronics, set construction, and rigging. He
has designed and built motion control systems for such productions as
The Real Thing, Sweeney Todd, Romeo and Juliet, Sweet Charity, Dracula, and Pal Joey. He has overseen
the construction of USC productions
since 2005. Mr. Gross received his
Bachelor of Science degree from the
University of North Alabama where
he also worked as a sound designer,
lighting designer, sound engineer,
carpenter, and actor. In his position
as Assistant Technical Director, Sam
supervises graduate and undergraduate students in the construction of
scenery and props for USC Theatre
and Dance productions.
Spencer Henderson
Costume Studio
Supervisor
M. Spencer Henderson
is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he received
an MFA in Costume Shop Management and Costume Technology.
He received his BA in theatre from
Florida State University. His costuming credits include Playmakers Repertory Company, The Utah Shakespearean Festival, and Glimmerglass
Opera. He has spent the last three
summers at the Williamstown Theatre Festival as the Costume Shop
Manager. Spencer supervises the
USC costume shop, assists with
the patternmaking and construction
of costumes, and teaches costume
construction classes. He is also an
advisory board member of SC Pride
and has designed at Workshop Theatre here in Columbia.
Jim Hunter
Chair/Artistic Director;
Lighting and Set
Design Advisor
Jim’s scene and lighting designs have been
seen at such theatres as Arkansas
Rep, Charlotte Rep, Playhouse on
the Square, Drury Lane Theatre, Theatre Virginia, the World Stage Exposition in Toronto, Heritage Rep, LaMama in NYC, The Flat Rock Playhouse,
the Veggie Tales Live! National Tour,
Wall Street Danceworks and others.
Recent designs include the lighting
design for The Lost Colony in Summer 2010 and the scene design for
Thoroughly Modern Millie at Phoenix
Theatre in Arizona, for which he was
awarded his second consecutive AriZoni Award for Excellence in Scene
Design. Jim is a member of the national designers union, United Scenic
Artists, Local 829, in scene and lighting design. Recent national service
activities include the Commission for
Accreditation with the National Association of Schools of Theatre, and
as a mentor for the Association for
Theatre in Higher Education’s Leadership Institute. Visit his website at
www.jimhunterdesigns.com.
Christine Jacky
Assistant Technical
Director
Christine Jacky received her MFA from
Southern Illinois University in Theater with emphasis in
lighting design and theatrical management. She specializes in stage
electrics, sound technology, production management, and photography for the stage. She has worked
at Central Piedmont Summer Theater, Long Lake Camp for the Arts,
McLeod Summer Playhouse, New
York City International Fringe Festival, and Lookingglass Theater in Chicago.
Kimi Maeda
Properties
Kimi Maeda has designed sets and costumes in Virginia, Atlanta, South
Carolina, Philadelphia, Boston, New
York, Indiana, and Baltimore. She
has written and directed several puppet shows, including The Crane
Wife, Snow White, and The Little
Mermaid. She received her MFA in
scenic design from the University of
South Carolina and was the
recipient of the 2005 Rose Brand
Award from the United States
Institute of Theatre Technology. She
received her MA in Scenography
from Central Saint Martins College of
Art and Design in London and her
BA in Studio Art from Williams College.
Andy Mills
Technical Director
Andy has designed professionally at Shakespeare Theatre’s Young
Company (Washington,
DC), Charlotte Repertory Theatre,
Carolina Opera, USC Opera, and
Trustus. Andy currently teaches Intro to Theatre Design and Theatre
Laboratory. He specializes in the area
of properties, finding or building the
most obscure of items. Andy is a
Member of USITT.
15
Laura Molesky
Assistant Stage
Manager
Laura Molesky is a sophomore and this is her
first production at USC.
Though she is not studying Theatre,
Laura holds a great appreciation for
performance art. She hopes to continue her involvement with USC Theatre
after Streetcar and looks forward to
working with many other talented casts
and crew in the future.
Michelle Ouhl
Assistant Stage Manager
Michelle Ouhl is a sophomore theatre minor at
USC who is returning to
work on her fifth show.
Prior credits include ASM for The Suicide and Light Board operator for Comedy of Errors. Michelle is very excited
to work with Chris Clavelli on this show
and later in the semester to work with
Robert Richmond on Romeo and Juliet in the Lab Theatre. Michelle is so
grateful to have had the opportunity to
work with all of the talented people in
the theatre program and would like to
dedicate this show to all of the graduate students and seniors who will be
leaving in May.
Arienne Thacker
Assistant Sound Designer
Arienne is a senior transfer student majoring in
theater. During her first
season at USC she worked on Our
Country’s Good and The Suicide, and
she is grateful for the opportunity to
work on her third main stage production. Some of her favorite previous
credits include Little Shop of Horrors,
16
Blues for Mr. Charlie, and The Nutcracker.
Neal Tucker Production Dramaturg
Neal Tucker holds a BA
in Theatre from Samford
University’s School of the
Arts and is currently pursuing an MA in Theatre here at USC. He
has also trained at the Chicago College
of Performing Arts and Second City.
Notable directing and acting credits
include Oleanna, The Real Thing, One
Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and
Twelfth Night. This is Neal’s dramaturgy
debut. He would like to thank Chris for
this fantastic opportunity. He would
also like to thank his wife and family
for their continued love and support.
Please visit his website at nealtucker.
net.
Nic Ularu
Scenic Design Advisor
Professor Ularu has extensive design credits
in the USA and Europe,
including theatres in
Sweden, Northern Ireland and Romania. Nic Ularu was the Head of Scenography at the National Theatre of
Bucharest - Romania, and served for
four years as a board member of The
European League of the Institutes of
the Arts (ELIA), Amsterdam, The Netherlands. He has taught scene and/or
costume design in Romania, Germany,
Sweden, UK, Italy, Denmark and Hong
Kong. Prior to USC, he taught at Smith
College, National Theatre School of
Denmark and The University of Theatre
and Film, Romania. In 2003, Professor
Ularu received an OBIE award for outstanding achievement in Off-Broadway
theater. Ularu’s designs appeared in the
USA entries at the Prague Quadrennial
International Exhibitions of scenogra-
phy in 2007, 2003 and 1998. In 2005,
Nic co-designed the exhibit and designed the poster of the World Stage
Design Exhibition, Toronto - Canada,
and was appointed by the United
States Institute of Theatre Technology
as the leading designer and curator of
the USA National Exhibit at the Prague
Quadrennial International Exhibition
of 2007. Besides his national and international design activity Nic Ularu is
a playwright and director. His recent
freelance work as playwright and director includes several acclaimed productions at LaMaMa ETC - New York, Sibiu
International Theatre Festival - Romania, Teatrul Foarte Mic, Bucharest - Romania, “O” Teatret - Sweden, National
Theatre of Constanta - Romania, and
National Theatre of Cluj - Romania.
17
Behind the Scenes
Technical Director Andy Mills
Assistant Technical Directors Sam Gross, Christine Jacky
Assistant Sound Designer Arienne Thacker
Assistant Stage Managers Laura Molesky, Michelle Ouhl
Properties Kimi Maeda
Scenic Graduate Students Meredith Paysinger, Cap Xiemer,
Heather Abraham
Scenic Artists Teddy Moore, Heather Abraham
Scenic Undergraduate Assistants Katie Perry, Matt Burcham, Ait Fetterolf, Bo Booram, Karleigh Brunson and
students of the Theatre Lab program
Lighting Graduate Students Marc Hurst, Brad Cozby
Running Crew Mason Lee Brandon, Karleigh Brunson, Eldren Keys, Olander Wilson
Sound Board Operator Arienne Thacker
Light Board Operator Mirranda Michels
Costume Graduate Students April Andrew, Sean Smith,
Caitlin Moraska
Drapers
April Andrew, Sean Smith, Caitlin
Moraska, Colleen Dobson, Elizabeth
Coffin
Stitchers
The students of the Theatre Lab Program
Dressers
Shirley Bell, Katie Middleton
Wig/Hair Assistant
Costume Studio Supervisor
Artistic Director/Chair
Production Manager
Financial Manager
Administrative Assistants
Student Coordinator
Marketing/Promotions
Promotions Assistants
Marquis Bias
M. Spencer Henderson
Jim Hunter
K. Dale White
Ray Jones
Charlotte Denniston, Leigh Cowart
Lakesha Campbell
Kevin Bush
Ashli Burnell, Emily Calvert, Emily
Gonzalez, Jane Hearn, Danielle
Peterson, William Vaughn, Joey White
Special Thanks
Workshop Theatre
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19
Upcoming Events
Up Next on the Main Stage
November 11-19, 2011
LONGSTREET
THEATRE
Polaroid
Stories
By
Naomi Iizuka
Directed by
Steven Pearson
Theatre South Carolina | Longstreet Theatre | Columbia, SC 29208
803/777-4288 | [email protected] | http://www.cas.sc.edu/thea