Intiman Theatre Presents 'A Streetcar Named Desire' 7/3

Intiman Theatre, under the leadership of Artistic Director Bartlett Sher and Interim Managing Director Kevin Maifeld, continues its 2008 season with the A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE by Tennessee Williams, directed by Intiman Associate Director Sheila Daniels. Performances will begin at the Intiman Playhouse, 201 Mercer Street at Seattle Center, on Thursday, July 3 and continue through Saturday, August 2. The opening night performance is Wednesday, July 9 at 7:30 pm.

Tickets for A Streetcar Named Desire range in price from $10 to $48, with discounts available for groups. Patrons aged 25 and under can purchase tickets to any performance for $10, pending availability. A limited number of $20 rush tickets may be available for purchase 15 minutes before curtain time, pending availability. Tickets are available from www.intiman.org or 206.269.1900. This production is sponsored by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Washington State Arts Commission.  

Tennessee Williams brought together sensuality, passion and poetry to create his New Orleans-set masterpiece. The play's explosive power, vitality and lyricism made it famous; the playwright's compassion for life's fragile and damaged souls makes it legendary.  

The production features Angela Pierce as Blanche DuBois and Jonno Roberts as Stanley Kowalski, with Chelsey Rives as Stella and Tim True as Mitch. The ensemble includes Colin L. Byrne, Jose J. Gonzales, Timothy Hyland, Charles Leggett, Rebecca Meneses, Shelley Reynolds and Khatt Taylor, with original music composed by Jose J. Gonzales and performed by members of the company.  

Angela Pierce (Blanche DuBois) has appeared on Broadway in Heartbreak House and A Streetcar Named Desire, and played Goneril opposite Kevin Kline's King Lear at The Public Theater. Other credits include a Royal Shakespeare Company/Shakespeare Theatre co-production of Love's Labour's Lost and two different productions of Proof, receiving a Connecticut Critics Circle nomination for Lead Performance at Hartford TheatreWorks and an AriZoni nomination for Lead Performance at Arizona Theatre Company. She is a graduate of The Juilliard School.

Chelsey Rives (Stella Kowalski) appeared at Intiman as Marianne in the world premiere of Prayer for My Enemy by Craig Lucas and The Skin of Our Teeth. At Seattle Repertory Theatre, she played Carol in The Lady from Dubuque. She earned her MFA from the Institute for Advanced Theatre Training at Harvard University and the Moscow Art Theatre School.

Jonno Roberts (Stanley Kowalski) appeared in New York in Tracy Letts' Bug off-Broadway and Richard Greenberg's Take Me Out on Broadway. Regional theatre credits include: King Lear at the Goodman Theatre and many productions at American Repertory Theatre. His film The Elephant King has won awards at numerous international film festivals. Mr. Roberts is a native of New Zealand and received his training at the Institute for Advanced Theatre Training at Harvard University and the Moscow Art Theatre School.

Tim True (Mitch) was seen earlier this year in a world-premiere adaptation of Ken Kesey's Sometimes a Great Notion at Portland Center Stage, where he has appeared in many productions including The Pillowman and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Other Portland credits include Number Three (world premiere), The Lonesome West (Best Actor, Portland Civic Theatre Guild) and Recent Tragic Events at Third Rail Repertory Theatre, where he is a founding member.

Director Sheila Daniels joined Intiman as its Associate Director in December 2007. She has been creating theatre as a director, actor, teacher and producer in Seattle since 1994. She was Co-Artistic Director and Co-Founder of both Theater Under Ground and Baba Yaga Productions, and served as the Associate Artistic Director at Capitol Hill Arts Center (CHAC). From 1999-2002, she was Artistic Director of Theater Schmeater. Her recent directing credits include According to Coyote (Seattle Children's Theatre), Pericles (Seattle Shakespeare Company) and Crime and Punishment (Theater Under Ground/CHAC).

The creative team includes scenic designer Thomas Lynch, costume designer Frances Kenny, lighting and projections designer L.B. Morse, composer Jose J. Gonzales, sound designer Joseph Swartz, fight choreographer Peter Dylan O'Connor and dialect coach Lisa Norman. The New York casting is by Janet Foster, C.S.A. and the stage manager is Amy Poisson.

For tickets and more info visit www.intiman.org.  

Photos by Chris Bennion.