streetcar_part1

Williams won a Pulitzer Prize for this play

A Streetcar Named Desire The play opened on December 3, 1947 And closed on December 17, 1949

 Tennessee Williams’ personality is manifested in the characters of Stanley, Mitch, Stella and Blanche

Painting by Thomas Hart Benton

Play originally called POKER NIGHT

ELIA KAZAN  1909-2003  Film and Stage Director  Directed both the original stage version and film version of STREETCAR  Founding member of The Actor’s Studio  Inspired natural and deep performances from a variety of actors.  Films stress conflict between individual and society, guilt and duty

STANLEY KOWALSKI “Man is by instinct a lover, a hunter and a fighter . . .” -The Glass Menagerie A twenty-four year old brutish “alphamale”- operates purely on instinct.

Loyal to his friends and passionate to Stella, his wife. Super Objective: protect his home and hearth and “bring home the meat”. Inspired by Tennessee Williams’ own father.

Blanche Dubois 

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“I don’t want realism. I want magic!” Older sister of Stella, she has run out of life in Mississippi and comes to New Orleans A former beauty queen and High school English Teacher Blanche Dubois appears in the first scene dressed in white, the symbol of purity and innocence. She refuses to see herself as she is but instead creates the illusion of what ought to be. The female “Hamlet” A unique combination of Tennessee, his mother and his sister.

Stella (Dubois) Kowalski Sister of Blanche DuBois Wife of Stanley Kowalski Stella is a Southern lady She is independent of mind, young and fair lady

Stella