Seeing Thunder Bay Theatre's current production, "A Streetcar Named Desire," it is easy to understand why serious actors covet the four meaty main roles created decades ago by famed playwright Tennessee Williams.

The parts of Stanley, Stella, Blanche and Mitch provide the opportunity to really act, to dig down deep and become a complicated character with a gut-wrenching range of emotions.

Powerfully written by Williams and powerfully acted in the hands of TBT's core company, this classic drama isn't pretty to watch, but it is a show of substance. The seedy setting in which the characters live (a New Orleans tenement house) and the stark circumstances of their lives are tortured and timeless.

TBT Artistic Director Mark Butterfuss outdid himself designing the top-notch set for "Streetcar," selecting the costumes, creating the important mood lighting, and running the light and sound board on performance nights all on top of providing direction to the cast.

Core company members John Mervini and Jennifer Carter as Stanley and Stella, Mary Riley as Blanche and J.R. Rodriguez as Mitch each prove worthy of the challenge of their roles.

Mervini's rough-edged Stanley makes no apologies for his brutish nature. He wears it like a badge. An elemental attraction exists between Stanley and his wife, even as Carter's Stella, who came from an old Southern plantation family, bears up under his abuse. As is often the case in abusive relationships, she readily forgives his physical and emotional man-handling of her.

Stella is torn between this less than accomplished life she has chosen, which requires her to stand up for and stand by her man, and being there for Blanche, her fragile and over-wrought sister.

Blanche has come to stay with Stanley and Stella, presumably because her job as a high school English teacher has become too much for her and she's taken a leave of absence. It soon becomes clear there's much more going on in this complicated character's heart and head.

In the hands of Riley, Blanche unravels in front of the audience's eyes. She puts on delicate affected airs as a Southern belle down on her luck, and her very presence grates on Stanley's nerves. The conflict between them is ever-present, including his out-right challenge of her story about how she lost Belle Reve, the family plantation in Mississippi.

Egged on by her coarse and merciless brother-in-law, by show's end Blanche becomes completely undone. Because of the intimacy of TBT's stage, it is a painful process to watch and hear unfold so up close and personal.

Financially destitute and believing that her beauty has faded, Blanche grasps at one last chance for happiness by encouraging the attentions of Stanley's long-time friend, Mitch. Rodriguez, the latest actor to join TBT's professional company, gives a superb performance as the sweet, lonely suitor courting a desperate Blanche only to discover that she is not the person she presents herself to be.

When Mitch learns of Blanche's true promiscuous nature, he comes to her with barely contained rage, a dramatic character transformation that again, because of the intimate setting of TBT, is readily experienced right before the eyes of the audience.

Though the show revolves around these four main characters, a number of other minor parts help to advance the plot. These include neighbors and friends, Eunice and Steve Hubbell (Missy Miller and John Wysocki III), the newspaper carrier come to collect (Travis Atkinson), and the nurse/flower peddler and doctor (Karen Thompson and Paul Shuert).

"Streetcar," in all is raw realism, doesn't make for a cheery theatre experience, but it is the kind drama that makes the audience appreciate the true genius of Tennessee Williams and the consummate effort and skill-level turned in by the cast. Remaining performances are Wednesday through Sunday of this week only.