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Articles tagged with: Tennessee Williams

Role Playing: Tracy Michelle Arnold debunks madness as force that drives Blanche DuBois

Aug 31, 2015 – 5:55 pm | 1,676 views
Tracy Arnold

Interview: Tracy Michelle Arnold, who portrays a feisty and resourceful Blanche DuBois in Tennessee Williams’ “A Streetcar Named Desire” at American Players Theatre, doesn’t buy the common perception of this embattled woman as “a crazy person.” Arnold sees Blanche as a scarred fighter who never gives up her struggle to survive, even at the end.

Theater 2015-16: Ever-changeable Hypocrites plan two intense musicals, three dark dramas

Aug 26, 2015 – 9:51 pm | 924 views
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Fourth in a series of season previews: The Chicago theater company that now appears to be one thing, then slyly becomes completely different (and hence calls itself The Hypocrites), will serve up a typically careening season for 2015-16: two existential musicals framing three plays that peer deeply into the abyss of fate.

‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ at American Players: Estwhile beauty meets beast, and he’s not kind

Jul 16, 2015 – 8:43 pm | 1,615 views
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Review: She is a fascinating character, indeed one of the iconic personas in all of theater, Blanche DuBois, the fallen Southern belle of Tennessee Williams’ “A Streetcar Named Desire.” The undying question is, Why? What’s so intriguing about this dame with the checkered past? Perhaps it’s her vulnerability, or her delusion, or her sheer refusal to go quietly into middle-aged oblivion. I think that’s the thing, her feisty pluck, that makes Tracy Michelle Arnold’s Blanche so compelling at American Players Theatre in Spring Green, Wis. ★★★★★

From al fresco staging of Williams’ ‘Streetcar,’ American Players promise summer of surprises

Jun 12, 2015 – 12:23 am | 1,055 views
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Preview: In her second summer as artistic director of American Players Theatre, Brenda Devita can claim her fingerprints alone on the scheme of eight widely ranging plays that will run in repertory well into the autumn. And DeVita embraces that authorship with pride, starting with the company’s first go at Tennessee Williams’ monumental tragedy “A Streetcar Named Desire.” “We’re taking it outdoors,” she says, referring to the starry-domed 1,148-seat Up-the-Hill Theatre.

Role Playing: Eileen Niccolai harnessed a storm of emotions to create spark in Williams’ Serafina

Feb 19, 2015 – 1:27 am | 1,754 views
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Interview: If you look at this wounded but willful, indeed headstrong and dauntless soul Serafina in Tennessee Williams’ tragi-comedy “The Rose Tattoo” and see nothing less than a force of nature, you’re on the same page with Eileen Niccolai, who brings the belligerent widow to hilarious life with Shattered Globe Theatre.

Shattered Globe summons blush as well as heat in Williams’ gritty comedy ‘The Rose Tattoo’

Jan 27, 2015 – 12:26 pm | 1,918 views
The Rose Tattoo at Shattered Globe Theatre 2015 (Michael Brosilow)

Review: When I look back on Chicago’s current theater season, certain performances will stand out as they always do for that singular blurring of actor and character that makes you feel more like you’re eavesdropping than watching a play. No doubt that special few will include Eileen Niccolai’s earthy, vulnerable, funny embodiment of Serafina Delle Rose in Tennessee Williams’ “The Rose Tattoo” with Shattered Globe Theatre. ★★★★

‘Airline Highway’ at Steppenwolf: Characters outshine drama in Lisa D’Amour’s new play

Jan 18, 2015 – 12:38 pm | 2,653 views
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Review: Lisa D’Amour’s latest play, “Airline Highway,” now in its world premiere run at Steppenwolf Theatre, pulls together an intriguing mélange of characters from what might euphemistically be called a subculture of contemporary New Orleans. They are a collection of losers. But memorable. Indeed, D’Amour’s sharply drawn prostitutes, addicts and schemers leave a more vivid impression than her troubled drama. ★★★

Theater 2014-15: Shattered Globe hoists sail with historic saga of Pacific whaling disaster

Aug 14, 2014 – 10:44 pm | 1,928 views
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Third in a series of season previews: The 24th season at Shattered Globe Theatre opens in the spray, rage and terror of Joe Forbrich’s new play “The Whaleship Essex,” a sea thriller that dramatizes an incident in 1820 when the whaling vessel Essex was attacked and destroyed by a giant whale.

Raven Theatre’s sharp image of ‘Vieux Carré’ evokes turning point for playwright Williams

May 18, 2014 – 11:42 pm | 4,096 views
Jane (Eliza Stoughton) and her lover Tye (Joel Reitsma) are part of the motley band in the Vieux Carre. (Dean LaPrairie)

Review: Raven Theatre’s very fine production of Tennessee Williams’ “Vieux Carré” bespeaks that lyrical playwright in the long, sad twilight of his creative career and, indeed, his life. It is a look back into the predawn of Williams’ emergence as an important voice, a play filled with rich characters of meager means, and the lean, fierce eloquence of this account directed by Cody Estle gets it wonderfully right. ★★★★

As Mary-Arrchie spins Williams’ ‘Menagerie,’ memory play is filtered through glass darkly

Jul 2, 2013 – 6:56 am | 8,441 views
Hans Fleischmann directs Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie Mary-Arrchie Theatre at Theatre Wit credit Emily Schwartz

Review:;One of the delights of this 2013 Chicago summer is a gently revisionist production of Tennessee Williams’ “The Glass Menagerie” by Marie-Arrchie Theatre, conceived and directed by Hans Fleischmann, who also plays the role of Tom. After selling out last fall at Angel Island and transferring to Theater Wit in May, the show has extended its run to July 28. ★★★★★

Shrouded in dreams and illusion, Goodman’s ‘Sweet Bird of Youth’ teeters into nightmare

Oct 6, 2012 – 2:04 pm | 6,541 views
Finn Wittrock Diane Lane Tennessee Williams Sweet Bird of Youth Goodman alt feature 2012 credit Liz Lauren

Review: ★★★★

The New Season: ‘Sweet Bird’ lifts Goodman into a lineup feathered with 3 world premieres

Sep 4, 2012 – 7:12 pm | 2,758 views
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13th in a series of season previews: Three world premieres punctuate an ambitious slate of nine productions at the Goodman Theatre in the coming season. Two other shows are Chicago premieres. The red-letter lineup begins with Tennessee Williams’ “Sweet Bird of Youth,” following up on last season’s high-profile account of Williams’ “Camino Real.”

Williams’ ‘Camino Real’ reshaped as director sets lyricism on a collision course with libido

Mar 17, 2012 – 2:39 pm | 7,831 views
Camino Real Featured Image Calixto Bieito Tennessee Williams Goodman Theatre 2012

Carnal carnival at Goodman. 3 stars.