A Streetcar Named Desire Audtions

Blanche Dubois: Stella’s older sister, around 30 years old, who was a high school English
teacher in Laurel, Mississippi, until she was forced to leave her post. Blanche is a loquacious
and fragile woman. After losing Belle Reve, the DuBois family home, Blanche arrives in New
Orleans at the Kowalski apartment and eventually reveals that she is completely destitute.
Though she has strong sexual urges and has had many lovers, she puts on the airs of a
woman who has never known indignity. She avoids reality, preferring to live in her own
imagination. As the play progresses, Blanche’s instability grows along with her misfortune.
Stanley sees through Blanche and finds out the details of her past, destroying her relationship
with his friend Mitch. Stanley also destroys what’s left of Blanche by raping her and then
having her committed to an insane asylum. Southern accent (Mississippi) needed with the
soft R sound.

Stella Kowalski: Blanche’s younger sister, about twenty-five years old and of a mild
disposition that visibly sets her apart from her more vulgar neighbors. Stella possesses the
same timeworn aristocratic heritage as Blanche, but she jumped the sinking ship in her late
teens and left Mississippi for New Orleans. There, Stella married lower-class Stanley, with
whom she shares a robust sexual relationship. Stella’s union with Stanley is both animal and
spiritual, violent but renewing. After Blanche’s arrival, Stella is torn between her sister and her
husband. Eventually, she stands by Stanley, perhaps in part because she gives birth to his
child near the play’s end. While she loves and pities Blanche, she cannot bring herself to
believe Blanche’s accusations that Stanley dislikes Blanche, and she eventually dismisses
Blanche’s claim that Stanley raped her. Stella’s denial of reality at the play’s end shows that
she has more in common with her sister than she thinks. Requires Southern accent
(Mississippi), but not as strong as Blanche’s as she has been away from there for a number
of years.

Stanley Kowalski: The husband of Stella. Stanley is the epitome of vital force. He is loyal to
his friends, passionate to his wife, and heartlessly cruel to Blanche. With his Polish ancestry,
he represents the new, heterogeneous America. He sees himself as a social leveler, and
wishes to destroy Blanche’s social pretensions. In his thirties, Stanley, who fought in World
War II, now works as an auto-parts salesman. Practicality is his forte, and he has no patience
for Blanche’s distortions of the truth. He lacks ideals and imagination. By the play’s end, he is
a disturbing degenerate: he beats his wife and rapes his sister-in-law. Horrifyingly, he shows
no remorse. Yet, Blanche is an outcast from society, while Stanley is the proud family man.
No particular dialect is likely to be used, although a Yat dialect may be attempted.

Harold Mitchell (Mitch): Stanley’s army friend, coworker, and poker buddy, who courts
Blanche until he finds out that she lied to him about her sordid past. Mitch, like Stanley, is
around thirty years of age. Though he is clumsy, sweaty, and has unrefined interests like
muscle building, Mitch is more sensitive and more gentlemanly than Stanley and his other
friends, perhaps because he lives with his mother, who is slowly dying. Blanche and Mitch are
an unlikely match: Mitch doesn’t fit the bill of the chivalric hero, the man Blanche dreams will
come to rescue her. Nevertheless, they bond over their lost loves, and when the doctor takes
Blanche away against her will, Mitch is the only person present besides Stella who despairs
over the tragedy.

Eunice Hubell: Stella’s upstairs neighbor and landlady. Eunice and her husband, Steve,
represent the low-class, carnal life that Stella has chosen for herself. Like Stella, Eunice
accepts her husband’s affections despite his physical abuse of her. At the end of the play,
when Stella hesitates to stay with Stanley at Blanche’s expense, Eunice forbids Stella to
question her decision and tells her she has no choice but to disbelieve Blanche. Age range:
30’s or 40’s or beyond. No dialect required.

Steve Hubell: Stanley’s poker buddy and landlord who lives upstairs with his wife, Eunice.
Like Stanley, Steve is brutish, hot-blooded, and an abusive husband. Age range: 30’s or 40’s
or beyond. No dialect required.

Pablo: Stanley’s poker buddy. Pablo is Hispanic, and his friendship with Steve, Stanley, and
Mitch emphasizes the culturally diverse nature of their neighborhood. Age Range: twenties –
thirties. Must be able to do a Spanish accent.

                                 Other Characters: These characters may be doubled.
Woman 1: A neighbor. She finds Stanley’s openly sexual gestures toward Stella hillarious.

Woman 2: A vendor of Mexican funeral decorations who frightens Blanche by issuing the
plaintive call, “Flores para los muertos,” which means “Flowers for the dead.” Spanish dialect
required.

Nurse: A strong, no-nonsense type. Severe, unfeminine manner. Has a talent for subduing
hysterical patients

A Young Collector: should be relatively young (upper teens or low twenties). A newspaper
collector. Innocent and bewildered by Blanche’s advances toward him. (He likely reminds
her of her teenage love, Allen Grey, whom she married and lost to suicide. This advance also
displays her unhealthy sexual preoccupation with teenage boys.)

Doctor: if this character is doubled with the Newspaper Collector, he will be aged up with
makeup. He arrives to whisk Blanche off to an insane asylum. He is kindly, and ironically,
conforms to Blanche’s notions of the chivalric Southern gentleman who will offer her salvation.

Dancers: Special choreography will be inserted for a male and a female dancer. While very
real, these two characters symbolically demonstrate prevalent themes. There will be a
separate audition in November for these two characters. Please stay alert to that
announcement on our website: www.flowertownplayers.org

For any questions, please contact Executive Director Kendall Kiker at md@flowertownplayers.org.