(L-R) Caroline Hull as Stella Kowalski, Indigo Leigh as Blanche DuBois and Daniel Luis Molina as Stanley Kowalski in Jeremy Seghers’ production of “A Streetcar Named Desire.” (Photo by Ashleigh Ann Gardner)
Director Jeremy Seghers is a Florida native who returned to his home state in 2005 after a stint in Chicago because he felt that Central Florida was culturally thriving and now, 18 years later, he is directing his last production in the area due to the ever-growing political tensions in the state.
Seghers got his start in the Central Florida theatre community through the Orlando Fringe Festival and has since been apart of productions such as “A Clockwork Orange,” “Dracula” and “Angels in America” produced by Valencia College Theater.
Seghers will direct Tennessee Williams’ “A Streetcar Named Desire” as his last project in Florida before transitioning to the Pittsburgh theatre community, where he hopes to become a part of the city’s promising “cultural identity.”
The play will run from June 22-25 at the Timucua Arts Foundation.
“A Streetcar Named Desire” follows refined Southern belle socialite Blanche DuBois as she is forced to leave her family estate in Laurel, Mississippi, and stay with her sister and brother-in-law, Stella and Stanley Kowalski. Blanche joins the married couple in New Orleans in their – to Blanche’s great surprise – two-bedroom home.
The three characters, among others, navigate the cultural and social waters of 1940s New Orleans as conflicts arise, doubts are cast and emotions unfold.
One aspect of Seghers’ casting in this in production is set to give the play a whole new layer – Indigo Leigh, a local transgender actress, will be tackling the enigmatic role of Blanche DuBois.
Although no dialogue from the original play will be changed, audience members can see the main character through a new lens as Leigh brings Blanche’s story to life.
Seghers said that there are attributes of Blanche’s character that are also present in many trans women’s stories.
“Blanche is very much a survivor,” he said. “And trans people, trans women especially, they have to develop the skill of survival.”
Seghers also said that many of the openly gay playwright’s female characters were based on trans women and that there are moments in the play in which subtle codes of Leigh’s identity are already present.
“There are times when Stanley refers to her, sort of mocks her as being a queen,” Seghers said. “There’s a double meaning to it.”
Having visited New Orleans often growing up, Seghers said that he wanted to give the feeling of the New Orleans that he experienced as a child, which is even more diverse now than the one Williams wrote about.
This isn’t Seghers first attempt to bring his reimagined production to the Timucua stage. Last year, he planned to premiere it at the same time during Pride month but had to cancel the production. At the time, Watermark spoke with Leigh about taking on such an iconic role.
“It’s been a different experience for me because of the scale of the work. It’s an interesting challenge, but one I’m incredibly excited for,” Leigh said.
Leigh said that Blanche being trans in this production is a small aspect of her life that, while it does play a part in the storytelling, mostly paints more of a picture of what’s already there.
“We aren’t adding bits, and we aren’t changing dialogue, but what we are doing is taking this script and seeing what happens when you put it through a non-cisgendered lens,” she said.
Seghers also felt the play is relevant to the current crisis that trans people are facing, especially in Florida.
Both the trans community and Blanche are threatened – both by internal and external factors. Both face fear, exhaustion, societal pushback and even dangers from their own family.
This is why Seghers decided to tackle this project the way he did and why it will be his last in the state. He said that Florida, in its current state, is not conducive to creativity or people who work in the arts. He went on to say that the state is not creating a safe space for these people to create, which is why he will be exploring other locations for creating theater.
While it was not an easy decision to leave Florida, Seghers said that he feels there is a lack of unity in the arts community over recent legislative decisions. He encourages young artists in Florida to explore how art is made elsewhere and to unify and fight against the injustices that the community face.
