Boasting a truly multicultural cast, Michael Michetti’s “A Streetcar Named Desire” for Boston Court Performing Arts Center brings Tennessee Williams’ classic into the modern world. Casting director Victoria Hoffman came on board after having worked with Michetti previously on “Captain of the Bible Quiz Team” at the Rogue Machine Theatre. Rogue Machine is a membership company so Hoffman typically casts from the membership first, but the multicultural needs for “A Streetcar Named Desire,” gave her the opportunity to meet many actors she was unaware of. “I don’t think it’s possible for any one casting person to know every actor in this town because there’s so many, and so many really gifted ones.”
Other than the leading role of Blanche (played byJaimi Paige) the entire cast is made up of actors of color. According to Hoffman, the idea was to have Blanche as the only Caucasian onstage and fill all the other roles with actors of color speaking in their authentic voice (no Southern accents), to highlight the sense of Blanche being stuck in a world where she doesn’t feel like she fits.
To give actors an idea of the vision they were going for, all the
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