With A Street Car, Front Row Production follows up its highly successful Broadway multi-racial production of Cat On A Hot Tin Roof.
[The Theater]
In a new production of A Street Car Named Desire to be produced by Stephen Byrd and Alia Jones, the role of Stanley Kowalski will be played by Blair Underwood, in his Broadway debut slated for the Spring of 2012.
The production, in a yet-to-be announced theater, will be directed by Emily Mann. Underwood is a two-time Golden Globe nominee.
With A Street Car, Front Row Production follows up its highly successful Broadway multi-racial production of Cat On A Hot Tin Roof. That play starred Terrence Howard, Phylicia Rashad, Anika Noni Rose and James Earl Rose, in a directing debut by Debbie Allen. The production later moved to London where it also had a successful run on London’s West End, and included Sanaa Lathan as Maggie and Adrian Lester as Brick. In London, the production won the “What’s On Stage,” and the prestigious “Olivier” awards for Best Revival.
A Street Car Named Desire, Tennessee Williams’ Pulitzer Prize winning play, set against the backdrop of New Orleans’ gritty French Quarter,
tells the tale of former school teacher and socialite Blanche DuBois; she’s forced to move in with her sister Stella and her animalistic husband Stanley, played by Blair Underwood in next year’s Front Row production. The fragile Blanche Dubois gets a gritty lesson in the seamy, steamy underbelly of 1940s New Orleans.
Underwood in a man of matchless talent. He has won awards in the worlds of film, television, theatre and literature, as actor, writer, and producer.
Underwood is co-star in The Art of Getting By, opposite Emma Roberts and Freddie Highmore, in an independent film to be released June 17 by
Fox Searchlight.He’s been in numerous films and received a Golden Globe nomination and was an Emmy semifinalist for his role as a navy fighter in HBO’s “In Treatment,” opposite Gabriel Byrne. He also starred in the network series’ “The Event,” “Dirty Sexy Money,” and “The New Adventures of Old Christine.”
Underwood is maybe best known as the headstrong attorney, Jonathan Rollins, from the NBC legal drama L.A. Law, a role he portrayed for seven years. He has gained critical acclaim throughout his career, receiving three NAACP Image Awards and 1 Grammy Award.
A Street Car was last seen on Broadway in 2005, starring Natasha Richardson, Amy Ryan and John C. Reilly.
Stephen Byrd is currently the only African American producer of Broadway plays. He is the founder of Front Row Productions, and producer of the first African American Broadway Production of Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, the highest grossing pay on Broadway in 2008. Byrd has more than 27 years of experience in investment banking, including as a banker in M&A with Goldman, Sachs & Co., in the London office. He is currently a principal and co-founder of StoneHedge Capital, Inc., a private equity firm.
Byrd supports several community and non-profit organizations, including Safe Horizon and the National Urban Technology Center. He was recently named as one of the most important African Americans by The New York Daily News.
Alia Jones, Front Row Productions Producer, joined the company in 2006. She co-produced the African American revival of Cat on A Hot Tin
Roof. She has more than 15 years experience in developing strategy and leading marketing campaigns for consumer brands, financial products,
web-based educational curriculum and arts organizations.
Jones serves on the board of the National Urban Technology Center; the non-profit organization teaches young people life skills, health
education, and career development through edutainment software.
“Speaking Truth To Empower.”
