2012 Productions
  THEATER OF THE AMERICAN SOUTH presents top-quality plays featuring professional directors, actors, and designers.  Performances are presented in the Boykin Cultural Center, a showpiece vaudeville theater built in 1919 and beautifully restored in the late 1990s, and the Lauren Kennedy and Alan Campbell Theatre, a new and intimate venue on the campus of Barton College.
 

A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE by Tennessee Williams

One of the greatest of all American plays, A Streetcar Named Desire launched the career of Marlon Brando and was made into a major motion picture that won four Academy Awards.  Set in the French Quarter of New Orleans, this powerful, enduring play pits fading Southern belle Blanche DuBois against Stanley Kowalski, the rough-hewn husband of her sister Stella.  Stanley strips away Blanche’s pretensions and derails her frantic efforts to cling to respectability, ultimately reducing her to the desperation of her signature line:  “I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.”  Playwright Tennessee Williams won a Pulitzer Prize for A Streetcar Named Desire, which ran for over two years on Broadway. 

Performances (Boykin Cultural Center):  May 11, 8 pm Opening Performance; May 12, 8 pm; May 13, 2 pm; May 17, 8 pm; May 19, 2 pm; May 20, 7:30 pm; May 24, 8 pm; May 26, 8 pm; May 27, 2 pm 

 

BACKSTAGE WITH LOUIS ARMSTRONG by Danny Mullen

Legendary singer and trumpeter Louis Armstrong was among the 20thcentury’s most celebrated performers.  Born into poverty in New Orleans, “Satchmo” parlayed tremendous musical virtuosity and an exuberant personality to reach the heights of American music and popular culture.  His raspy-voiced renditions of “What a Wonderful World,” “Hello, Dolly!,” and “When the Saints Go Marching In” remain classics to this day.  Backstage with Louis Armstrong features the great entertainer in his element:  holding court after a show, regaling visitors with hilarious stories and tender anecdotes.  Acclaimed actor Danny Mullen has delighted audiences from New York to New Orleans in this one-man show.   

Performances (Lauren Kennedy and Alan Campbell Theatre):  May 10, 8 pm Opening Performance; May 12, 2 pm; May 13, 7:30 pm; May 18, 8 pm; May 19, 8 pm; May 20, 2 pm; May 25, 8 pm; May 26, 2 pm; May 27, 7:30 pm 
 

Attractively priced festival tickets go on sale in early 2012, www.theateroftheamericansouth.org, by phone at (252) 291-4329 x10, or in person at the Arts Council of Wilson box office located at 124 Nash Street SW.