COOKEVILLE, Tenn. (April 12, 2004) – The Tech Players end their 49th season with the spring production of A Streetcar Named Desire, the acclaimed drama by legendary playwright Tennessee Williams that kicks off this month at Tennessee Tech University’s Backdoor Playhouse.

A Center Stage event produced in arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, the show begins at 8 p.m. on April 29, 30, May 1, 4, 7 and 8 and at 10 p.m. on May 3 and 6.

“This is one of the plays I’ve always wanted to direct, and I’m excited about the contrast of this production,” said Playhouse Director Mark Creter. “People typically don’t expect a heavy drama in the spring.”

“There’s also a myth that it takes a deep emotional low to create great art — but I’m at my personal emotional highest right now and working on the darkest play I’ve directed in some time,” he continued.

First performed in 1946, A Streetcar Named Desire is set in the French Quarter of New Orleans during the restless years following World War II and tells the story of Blanche DuBois, a fragile and neurotic woman on a desperate prowl for someplace in the world to call her own.

It cemented Williams’ reputation as a great American playwright, earning him both a New York’s Critics Circle Award and a Pulitzer Prize.

A Streetcar Named Desire is the first Tennessee Williams play produced at the Backdoor Playhouse since the 1996 critically acclaimed production of The Glass Menagerie directed by Creter.

“Its cast is made up of both students and community members who are all doing a wonderful job of capturing the life of these characters — and that’s not an easy task because these characters are quite deep and intense,” he said.

Ticket prices are $8 for general admission, $6 for senior citizens, $4 for non-TTU students, $3 for employees at TTU Employee Appreciation Nigh on Tuesday, May 4, and free for TTU students who present their Eagle identification cards at the door.

The Backdoor Playhouse is located at the rear of TTU’s Jere Whitson Building.

For more information, call the Backdoor Playhouse box office at 931/372-6595.

--Tracey LeFevre
This information posted 21 April 2004