A Streetcar named Desire more cast announced

Daphne Rubin-Vega as 'Stella' and Wood Harris as 'Mitch' are to join the previously announced Nicole Ari Parker and Blair Underwood in Front Row Production's upcoming Broadway revival of Tennessee Williams' A Street Car Named Desire, directed by Emily Mann, expected to arrive in Spring 2012.

Tennessee Williams' Pulitzer Prize winning drama, A Street Car Named Desire is set against the backdrop of New Orleans' gritty French Quarter, and tells the tale of former school teacher and socialite Blanche DuBois (Nicole Ari Parker), as she's forced to move in with her sister Stella and her animalistic husband Stanley (Blair Underwood). But the fragile, Blanche quickly gets a gritty life lesson in the seamy, steamy underbelly of 1940's New Orleans.

Grammy winning musician and composer Terence Blanchard will provide an original soundscape for the production. Further production details to be announced.

Front Row Production's multi-racial production of A Street Car Named Desire, is a follow-up to their Broadway production of 'Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,' which starred Terrence Howard, Phylicia Rashad, Anika Noni Rose and James Earl Jones, and was directed by Debbie Allen. The production subsequently moved to London's West End (with Jones and Rashad joined by Sanaa Lathan and Adrian Lester) where it received the "Olivier" award for Best Revival.

A Street Car Named Desire was first performed on Broadway in 1949, directed by Elia Kazan it starred Marlon Brando as 'Stanley Kowalski,' Jessica Tandy (Tony nomination) as 'Blanche Du Bois' and Kim Hunter as 'Stella Kowalski.'

The drama has been revived on Broadway seven times, the last was in 2005 starring Natasha Richardson as 'Blanche Du Bois', Amy Ryan (Tony nomination) as 'Stella Kowalski' and John C. Reilly as 'Stanley Kowalski,' with direction by Edward Hall.

Bios:

Daphne Rubin-Vega originated the role of 'Mimi' (Rent) and 'Conchita' (Anna in the Tropics), both Pulitzer Prize winning Broadway shows for which she was nominated for the Tony award. Other Broadway credits include 'The Rocky Horror Show' and 'Les Misérables.' Rubin-Vega most recently portrayred the role of "Lucy" in the film version of "Jack Goes Boating."

Wood Harris (Mitch) is making his Broadway debut. TV work includes playing "Avon Barksdale" in 38 episodes HBO's "The Wire" and a key supporting part as "Dion Warner" (aka Dion Element) in Richard Kelly's "Southland Tales." Woods more recent work includes roles in "House," "Not Easily Broken," "Next Day Air" and "Hawaii Five-0." Wood most recently filmed "Judge Dredd" in South Africa and Jay Chandrasekhar's "The Baby Makers."

Nicole Ari Parker (Blanche DeBois) is making her Broadway debut, she is best known for her performance as "Teri Joseph" of Showtime's award winning original series "Soul Food". She starred in the ABC drama series "The Deep End". She has been featured in "Remember the Titans," "Welcome Home," "Roscoe Jenkins," "Boogie Nights" and the indie film "Sebastian Cole," a winner at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival.

Blair Underwood (Stanley Kowalski) is making his Broaday debut, he is best known as attorney 'Jonathan Rollins' from the NBC legal drama 'L.A. Law,' a role he portrayed for seven years and for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award. He was also nominated for a Golden Globe for his role as "Alex Prince" in "In Treatmen." Other TV work includes: "The New Adventures of Old Christine," "Dirty Sexy Money," "LAX," "Fatherhood," "Sex and the City," "City of Angels," "High Incident" and "Downtow." Major films include: "The Hit," "Just Cause", "Set It Off" and "Deep Impact" (1998).

Emily Mann (Director) is a multi-award winning director and playwright, who is in her 22nd season as Artistic Director of McCarter Theatre in Princeton, NJ. Under her leadership, McCarter was honored with the 1994 Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theater. Mann's Broadway directional credits include "Anna in the Tropics" and "Having Our Say" (Tony nomination), and "Execution of Justice." On Broadway her plays include: "Having Our Say" (Tony nomination for Best Play) and "Execution of Justice."

Daphne Rubin-VegaWood Harris