The Invisible Dog is thrilled to welcome Nick Westrate and an ensemble of four New York theater actors (Lucy Owen, Brad Koed, Mallory Portnoy and Will Rogers) for their rendition of A Streetcar Named Desire.
A one night only event: four actors perform Tennessee Williams’ masterpiece in an entirely new space. A theatrical high wire act with America’s greatest play. You’ve never seen Streetcar like this before, and you never will again.
With theaters across the country struggling to keep their lights on, there is a vital need to create new, economically viable models for the art form. Working class artists must reclaim a central role in the creation and presentation of their own work.
In that spirit, director Nick Westrate and an ensemble of four astonishing New York theater actors (Lucy Owen, Brad Koed, Mallory Portnoy and Will Rogers) set out to create a version of A Streetcar Named Desire like none other. Presenting Tennessee Williams’s complete, unabridged text with just four performers- no props, no set- this production can exist in any space. It strips bare to the bones the greatest piece of American drama.
A Streetcar Named Desire is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French, Inc. and is presented by special arrangement with the University of the South Sewanee, Tennessee.
Starring : Lucy Owen, Brad Koed, Mallory Portnoy and Will Rogers
Directed by Nick Westrate
Created and Produced by Lucy Owen and Nick Westrate
Lucy Owen (Blanche DuBois/Co-Creator) is an actor and filmmaker based in Brooklyn. Her recent television credits include Showtime’s The Loudest Voice where she recurred as Suzanne Scott, the current CEO of Fox News opposite Naomi Watts and Russell Crowe; and Sandy on Craig Zobel’s CBS All Access series, One Dollar. Film credits include Miss Sloane, opposite Jessica Chastain, directed by John Madden, Jonathan Demme’s Ricki and the Flash, Kelly and Cal, The Sounding, Higher Ground, The Mend and most recently in Oday Rasheed’s If You See Something opposite Reed Birney. On stage Lucy has been seen in Cloud Nine at the Atlantic, and The Village Bike (opposite Greta Gerwig) at MCC. Lucy’s film, Fit Model, which she co-wrote and stars in premiered at the New York Film Festival and can currently be streamed on The Criterion Channel.
Nick Westrate (Director/Co-Creator) is a theater and film artist based in New York City. His credits on Broadway as an actor include: Bernhardt/Hamlet, Casa Valentina & A Moon for the Misbegotten. He just starred as Prior Walter in Angels in America for Jánosz Száz at The Arena Stage in Washington D.C. Off-Broadway he has starred in Tribes at The Barrow Street Theater, A Delicate Ship for Playwrights Realm, Galileo and Unnatural Acts for Classic Stage Company, Love’s Labor’s Lost at the Public, Ivo Van Hove’s The Little Foxes for NYTW, The Boys in the Band (Drama Desk nomination, 2010) for Transport Group. On television he is best known as Robert Townsend on AMC’s Turn: Washington’s Spies, and also for Todd Haynes’ HBO miniseries Mildred Pierce, and Bruno Barreto’s HBO miniseries The American Guest. Soon he will be playing Edwin Booth in the Apple TV+ miniseries Manhunt. On film he stars in the feature American Insurrection and in Jonathan Demme’s Ricki & the Flash opposite Meryl Streep. He is the recipient of his own special Drama Desk Award for his versatility in performance Off-Broadway in 2012, and is a graduate of the Juilliard School.
Brad Koed (Stanley Kowalski) is best known for his work as a series regular on PBS’s Mercy Street. Brad also appeared on Broadway opposite Phillip Seymour Hoffman in Mike Nichols’ production of Death of a Salesman and in the world premiere of Aaron Posner’s Stupid Fucking Bird which earned him a Helen Hayes nomination for Best Actor. He played Mercutio at the Folger Theater, starred in Unnatural Acts at Classic Stage Company, and also recurred on TBS’s hit comedy Search Party.
Mallory Portnoy (Stella DuBois) Broadway: Oklahoma! (Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical). Other New York Credits: Oklahoma! (St. Ann's Warehouse, Bard Summerscape), Most Happy (Williamstown Theatre Festival, Bard Summerscape), California (Clubbed Thumb's Summerworks), Privacy (The Public Theater in Association with The Donmar Warehouse), A Midsummer Night's Dream (The Public Theater/Shakespeare in the Park). Regional: Denver Center, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Chautauqua Theater Company. TV: American Rust (Amazon Freevee), The Good Fight (Paramount+), Grace and Frankie (Netflix), The Helpsters (Apple TV). Film: Maestro. Mallory is co-creator of the comedy series Human Interest (Best Digital Short Series at Series Fest) and Roger, The Chicken (LA Comedy Film Festival, Friars Club Comedy Film Festival). Training: University of Illinois Urbana/Champaign, Juilliard.
Will Rogers (Harold Mitchell) is a Drama Desk Award nominated actor known for his performances in New York at Lincoln Center, NYTW, MCC, The Atlantic, Playwrights Horizons, Manhattan Theater Club and Signature Theater. He starred in Steven Speilberg’s Oscar-winning film, Bridge of Spies and in Barry Levinson’s The Bay. Will has appeared in numerous TV shows including Billions, The Marvelous Mrs Mazel, Bull and Law and Order. He’s forever grateful for the support of his wife Becca and is a proud graduate of North Carolina School of the Arts.
Tennessee Williams (1911-1983) was a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, considered by many to be America’s greatest playwright. Williams is best known for his plays, “A Streetcar Named Desire,” “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” and “The Glass Menagerie.” He wrote more than 30 full-length plays.
The turning point in his career occurred in 1944 with the production of “The Glass Menagerie,” which won a New York Critics Circle Award. The financial returns from the production freed up more time for him to write. His next piece of work, written in Mexico, was a play titled “Poker Night,” eventually retitled “A Streetcar Named Desire,” which became one of his masterpieces. “Streetcar” won Williams his second New York Critics Circle Award. Recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama (1948), the original Broadway “Streetcar” cast included Jessica Tandy, Marlon Brando, Karl Malden and Kim Hunter. Two years later, Laurence Olivier directed the London premiere starring Vivien Leigh and Bonar Colleano. In 1951, the movie “A Streetcar Named Desire” won four Academy Awards with the reprisal cast of Brando, Hunter, Leigh and Malden.
Admission:
RSVP
$65 General Admission
90% of all ticket sales go directly to the artists involved.
Duration:
2 hours 45 minutes with a 15 minute intermission
Location:
51 Bergen St