Tennessee Williams’ ‘Streetcar’ pulls into in Sarasota

You pretty much know exactly what you’re going to get from a Two Chairs Theatre production.

When the company started two years ago in Sarasota, founder Elliott Raines said he would stage one show a year and focus on staging classic American dramas. So far, Two Chairs has staged only shows written by Tennessee Williams.

Its production for 2014 was “The Glass Menagerie” and last year it was “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.” Both were faithful and sensitive productions of plays that are considered to be among Williams’ best.

Two Chairs is back with another Williams classic, again directed by Raines. “A Streetcar Named Desire” runs Sept. 1-11 at The Players Centre for Performing Arts. It’s a joint production of Two Chairs and Players, and it marks the beginning of the Players Centre’s 2016-17 season.

“Streetcar” won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1948 and was turned into a memorable film starring Marlon Brando, Vivien Leigh and Kim Hunter in 1951.

The play revolves around the mental deterioration of Blanche DuBois, who’s visiting her sister, Stella Kowalski, in the French Quarter of New Orleans shortly after World War II. Conflicts between Blanche and Stanley, Stella’s brutish husband, hasten her downward spin.

Raines said that the powerful look at mental illness — which is common to a lot of Williams’ central characters — was one of the aspects of “Streetcar” that drew him to choose this play.

Details: Sept. 1-11, Players Centre for Performing Arts, 838 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota. 7:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday. $25-$30; students under 24 with ID $12. 941-365-2494, theplayers.org.

This story was originally published August 31, 2016 at 4:36 PM with the headline "Tennessee Williams’ ‘Streetcar’ pulls into in Sarasota."