by A.A. Brenner
Directed by Colm Summers
Showtimes
Thursday, May 12, 2022, 2:30 PM
Saturday, May 14, 2022, 2:30 PM
Saturday, May 14, 2022, 8 PM
A modernized queer, disabled new play inspired by Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire with no cis white men and one Gentleman Caller who is not a gentleman, Blanche & Stella explores and reimagines the central complex female relationships at the heart of Williams' play and canon. In this retelling, Blanche DuBois and Stella Kowalski are two only-children and childhood best friends ("sisters") who end up living together after Blanche goes through a cataclysmic breakup and shows up unannounced on Stella's doorstep in Washington, D.C. Now adults, the pair must navigate mismatched expectations and their own maladaptive coping mechanisms as they question what to do when the people they love aren't quite who they appeared to be.
Cast
McLean Peterson – BLANCHE DUBOIS
Carey Blackburn – STELLA KOWALSKI
Rakesh Palisetty – ARMAN SULTAN
A.A. Brener – GENTLEMAN CALLER
Creative Team
Assistant Director Emma Densen
Stage Manager Amy Rauchwerger
Producer Jessica Hirschhorn
Dramaturg Anisa Rose Threlkeld
Assistant Dramaturg & Producer Kelleen Moriarty
Set / Props Designer Karen Loewy Movilla
Lighting Designer Betsy Chester
Sound Designer Liam Bellman-Sharpe
Costume Designer Karen Boyer
Projection Designer Caroline Trewet
Intimacy & Fight Coordinator Leana Gardella
Playwright A.A. Brenner
About the Artist
A.A. Brenner (they/them) is a playwright, dramaturg, and New Yorker. Their writing blends naturalistic dialogue with heightened realism to explore queer, Jewish, and disability themes, challenging both societal power structures and theatrical form. A.A.'s plays have been produced or commissioned by La Jolla Playhouse, National Disability Theatre, CO/LAB Theatre Group, Shakespeare Theatre Company (Fellows Consortium), Three Muses Theatre Company, Young Playwrights Inc., The Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts, Columbia University, Mason Gross School of the Arts @ Rutgers University, and The Hangar Theatre Lab Company; their play for all audiences, EMILY DRIVER'S GREAT RACE THROUGH TIME AND SPACE (co-written by Gregg Mozgala), was featured on the 2020 Kilroys List. Additionally, A.A. was a Finalist for the 2020-22 Apothetae & Lark Playwriting Fellowship, the 2021 Platform Presents Playwright's Prize, and the 2021 Columbia@Roundabout New Play Reading Series. Currently, A.A. lives on Lenape land in Brooklyn, NY, and is an October 2021 graduate of the MFA Playwriting Program at Columbia University School of the Arts. www.aabrenner.com.