What if Streetcar arrived on the desk of a literary manager, a playwriting professor, or a workshop instructor in 2012?

Tennessee, this is powerful stuff, we just love it. But you should thank God we make a commitment to reading plays here. Another organization might not have looked past the dramatis personae page and seen this work’s merits. After all, it has 13 characters, many of whom are only there to add ambiance and texture to the proceedings. If you can make a concerted effort to boil this down to the four principals and do some significant doubling, I think we might have something truly special here. But listen, you cannot have more than seven actors.

Got it?

And about the length…

How many plays can you think of in the last decade that desperately needed more oxygen, more texture, and more depth but were constrained by a writing format that is as restrictive as anything dreamed up by Cardinal Richelieu?

My advice to playwrights? Stop taking advice on how to craft a “producible play” and write your damn play.