Monday, August 11, 2008

RANCHO PANCHO: A new play by Gregg Barrios

September 6 and 7, 2008, 8:00 p.m. at the Jump-Start Theater of San Antonio, Texa.

Rancho Pancho is a new play by former Los Angeles Times journalist and San Antonio playwright Gregg Barrios about the short-lived but intense relationship between playwright Tennessee Williams and South Texan Pancho Rodriguez from 1946-1947. The other characters are Carson McCullers (with whom Williams and Pancho shared a summer home in Nantucket), and pioneer stage director Margo Jones (who was in P-town for Brando’s Streetcar audition.)

The play is based in part on previously unknown correspondence between Williams and Pancho. Williams used his relationship with the volatile Pancho as a model for the character of Stanley Kowalski and his relationship with both Blanche and Stella in A Streetcar Named Desire. Barrios chose the name of the play from the fact that Williams dubbed their home together “Rancho Pancho,” wherever they happened to be living. Rancho Pancho is presented in collaboration with Classic Theatre of San Antonio and is directed by Diane Malone.

Jump-Start Performance Co. is located at 108 Blue Star, 78204, in the Blue Star Arts Complex in San Antonio, Texas. Visit the Jump-Start website for information and to create a dialogue about events via blog posts. For reservations, please call 210-227-5867.

Rancho Pancho will be moving to the east coast and performed on Fisherman’s Wharf, September 27 and 28, 1:00 p.m., at the Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theater Festival. Visit here for more information.

[Actors pictured in first photo: Benny Briseno as Pancho and Rick Frederick as Tennessee. Second photo: Briseno with Anna Gungai as Carson McCullers.]

Speaking of Gregg Barrios, if you missed his guest post on Saturday, go here to read about when Zeta met Hunter…

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