1. Theater review: 'Streetcar Named Desire'
earthy at ACT
http://www.citizen-times.com/story/entertainment/2015/04/21/theater-review-streetcar-named-desire-earthy-act/26146303/
Bruce C. Steele 7:23 p.m. EDT April 21, 2015
How can a community theater approach an iconic work like "A Streetcar Named Desire" without
being overshadowed by the images of cultural giants burned into our collective memories?
Simple: Asheville Community Theatre returns to the text.
Turns out that the characters in "Streetcar" are not, in conception, the overpowering forces
embodied by Marlon Brando and Vivien Leigh. And it appears that Oscar winner Karl Malden
simply got it wrong.
That's the last you'll read those names in this review, because while they must be acknowledged
(along with the original Stella, Kim Hunter), they also must be exorcised for Asheville audiences
to connect directly with the show at hand, a worthy rendition of the Tennessee Williams classic
that may well recreate the freshness of audiences' first reactions to the play, before time
magnified it into a Colossus.
The audience's first encounter in this production is with Jack Lindsay's terrific set, the
Kowalskis' tiny French Quarter apartment. Its many working-class details make it impressively
genuine, yet its transparency — the back walls are scrims — also makes it dreamlike,
appropriate for this 1940s tale of broken fantasies.
We're soon reminded that Stella and Stanley Kowalski — played by Devyn Ray and Daniel J.
Clancy — are an earthy couple, very much in love and yet prone to violent confrontations,
powered in both extremes by the same uncapped geysers of emotion.
Clancy is the Stanley next door, clearly the alpha male in his home and among his friends, but
neither monster nor embodied id. Clancy captures Stanley's power — he's bossy, loud and
sometimes menacing — but keeps him grounded. Above all he's a realist who distrusts beauty
and disbelieves in dreams.
That makes him the perfect adversary to his visiting sister-in-law, Blanche DuBois (Jennifer
Russ), whose tenuous grasp on her shattered life depends entirely on her imaginative stories and
lies, to herself and everyone else.
Russ plays Blanche as supremely fragile from her first appearance, always on the verge of a fit or
collapse. She's so frenetic in Act 1 that she's almost off-putting, but in Act 2, when wooing
Stanley's pal Mitch or confronting Stanley directly, she gains focus and strength and, most
crucially, sympathy. It's a fine and fresh take on Blanche, less vixen than vexed, and probably
closer to jittery truth of such a desperate, self-deluded Southern belle.

2. The real revelation is Robert Dale Walker's Mitch, who in this production adheres more to the
character as written: A guy who has tuned out his sick mother so long that he doesn't listen well
to anyone. Walker comes across as the nicest guy in Stanley's bunch, sure, but he also has a
selfish, unyielding edge to him that plays well off Russ's equally egocentric Blanche. Walker's
Mitch is not, in the end, a swell guy.
As she should be, Devyn Ray is the emotional heart of the play as Stella, and her easy, charming,
naturalistic performance is like a force of gravity, holding together the characters spiraling out of
orbit around her.
Credit for all these performances also goes to director Jerry Crouch, ACT's "Mr. Musical," who
here wisely eschews grandness for grit. He's helped by the intricate and mood-enhancing lighting
by Rob Bowen, and by Deborah Austin's spot-on costumes, Andi Espenshade's nicely selected
props, Stephen Veltman's unpretentious hair and makeup and Beth Mayo's management of a very
busy stage.
Adam Cohen's sound design presumably includes the uncredited music, well chosen and used
with sparing effect. Kudos also to technical director Jill Summers.
It's not a perfect production. The pacing on opening night had some slack spots — fear of
overlapping dialogue? — and the staging of the more violent moments isn't quite convincing.
But it is blessed with unexpected joys like the volatile energy of the upstairs neighbors, Steve
and Eunice, played here by a solid Steven Turner and the delightful Kathy O'Connor. (In smaller
roles are Ruth Planey, Adrian Suskauer, Ben Goldfinger, Meda Thurston and Mike Vaniman.)
Those familiar with only the movie will find not only a more tangible Tennessee, they'll also get
an unedited version, since some of the play's more daring dialogue was censored onscreen. In a
sense, Asheville Community Theatre is introducing "Streetcar" to Asheville all over again for the
first time.
IF YOU GO
What: "A Streetcar Named Desire" by Asheville Community Theatre.
Where: 35 E. Walnut St., Asheville.
When: 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2:30 p.m. Sunday, through May 3.
Tickets: $22 for adults; seniors and students $19; age 16 and younger $12. Call 254-1320 or
visit www.ashevilletheatre.org.

3. Robert Walker, as Harold Mitchell, or Mitch, left, and Jennifer Russ, as Blanche DuBois,
perform a scene together during a rehearsal of A Streetcar Named Desire at the Asheville
Community Theatre Thursday, April 9, 2015. The show will have a three-weekend run from
April 17 through May 3 with 7:30 p.m. shows on Fridays and Saturdays and 2:30 matinees on
Sundays.

4. Devyn Ray, as Stella Kowalski, left, and Jennifer Russ, as Blanche DuBois, perform a scene
together during a rehearsal of A Streetcar Named Desire at the Asheville Community Theatre
Thursday, April 9, 2015. The show will have a three-weekend run from April 17 through May 3
with 7:30 p.m. shows on Fridays and Saturdays and 2:30 matinees on Sundays.

5. Devyn Ray, as Stella Kowalski, left, and Dan Clancy, as Stanley Kowalski, right, perform a
scene together during a rehearsal of A Streetcar Named Desire at the Asheville Community
Theatre Thursday, April 9, 2015. The show will have a three-weekend run from April 17 through
May 3 with 7:30 p.m. shows on Fridays and Saturdays and 2:30 matinees on Sundays.

6. Dan Clancy, as Stanley Kowalski, left, and Jennifer Russ, as Blanche DuBois, perform a scene
together during a rehearsal of A Streetcar Named Desire at the Asheville Community Theatre
Thursday, April 9, 2015. The show will have a three-weekend run from April 17 through May 3
with 7:30 p.m. shows on Fridays and Saturdays and 2:30 matinees on Sundays.

7. Devyn Ray, as Stella Kowalski, left, and Jennifer Russ, as Blanche DuBois, perform a scene
together during a rehearsal of A Streetcar Named Desire at the Asheville Community Theatre
Thursday, April 9, 2015. The show will have a three-weekend run from April 17 through May 3
with 7:30 p.m. shows on Fridays and Saturdays and 2:30 matinees on Sundays.