Tennessee in Dickinson, ND

Tonight Susan and I saw a great production of the Tennessee Williams play A Streetcar Named Desire at Dickinson State University. It was held in the Backstage Theater, which is literally set up in the backstage area of the main theater. It's a great space for smaller productions that call for a more intimate setting. For tonight's show, we audience members were led through the set to our seats; we walked along a brick sidewalk past buildings on a New Orleans street. It was a fun way to "buy into" the setting and experience the atmosphere of the locale; and when we later watched the characters walking down that same sidewalk and in and out of those same buildings, the reality of the place was heightened all the more.

The set featured cut-away walls to expose the interior of the main characters' apartment, each room furnished with items authentic to the period and decorated in consistent colors that supported the mood of the plot. The costumes and props seemed as carefully selected, too, so there was an overall unity of tone that worked in harmony with the plot. Susan and I were impressed, too, with the fine acting and directing. We saw actors do excellent work who, in other productions, did not impress us. And I couldn't keep from admiring how well the director used the entire space, having characters inhabit each area of the set at one time or another and move naturally and seem really to live there.

We had excellent seats just a few feet from the actors, and our proximity to them enhanced my willingness to let myself get involved in their plight--to feel connected to them and want sometimes to tell them what to do or what not to do. And, although I spent time analyzing the various elements of the production, the overall experience was really seamless; audience members without a theatre background probably noticed not the specifics but instead the whole, and I commend everyone involved for working so well together to create a unified theatrical experience that had the audience singing its praise at the end of the night.