Thursday, we’re talking about one of the great classics of American theater, A Streetcar Named Desire. It was 70 years ago when Marlon Brando first played Stanley Kowalski on Broadway, but the themes of sexual violence, homophobia, addiction, and family strife still resonate today. A new production at Salt Lake City’s Grand Theatre opens this week, so we’re exploring Tennessee Williams’ masterpiece and how it’s become, as one guest puts it, enshrined in America’s psyche.
A Streetcar Named Desire opens Thursday, March 16 and runs through Saturday, April 1 at The Grand Theatre on the South City Campus of Salt Lake Community College. For tickets and more information, click here
Guests:
- Robert Bray teaches English at Middle Tennessee State University, and is the founding editor emeritus of The Annual Tennessee Williams Review. His books include Hollywood's Tennessee [Amazon|Independent Booksellers] and Tennessee Williams and his Contemporaries [Independent Booksellers|Amazon]
- Bob Mondello is NPR arts and film critic. Go in the way-back time machine to listen to his remembrance of Elia Kazan and his review of the Tennessee Williams Film Collection. [Amazon]
- Mark Fossen directs The Grand Theatre production of A Streetcar Named Desire.
- April Fossen plays Blanche DuBois.
- Robert Scott Smith plays Stanley Kowalski.
Scenes from Elia Kazan's 1951 film version of A Streetcar Named Desire.
Stella!
Brando's off-script "Hey, Honey!"
I'm the King Around Here
Meetings with Strangers
