This weekend, Parkland High School's Theater Department is presenting a production of "An Evening with Tennessee Williams."

Williams has been dubbed one of the greatest playwrights in American history.

His most famous works include "A Streetcar Named Desire," "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" and "The Glass Menagerie."

Williams, whose plays examine complex human themes, created memorable characters such as Blanche Dubois and Stanley Kowalski of "Streetcar," who struggled with alcoholism, depression and domestic violence.

"An Evening with Tennessee Williams" is comprised of seven separate short acts that share several common themes.

The seven plays were handpicked by Director Mark Stutz, who says he enjoys directing the winter play because it allows him to work closely with the actors, helping to develop their craft.

"One of the things I tried to do when I first came here [to Parkland] was to try to give the theater kids, whether it's actors or crew, an opportunity to try as many different styles as possible," Stutz said. "I just took seven plays that I felt had common themes."

Each play is acted on only a small portion of the stage, which then goes black upon its completion.

"There aren't going to be walls, doors, windows. There is just going to be simple furniture accurate to the time period," Stutz said.

"With the use of curtains, the audience will actually be constrained to make the small stage fit the small audience," student Stage Manager Claire Santa said.

Students Noah Guth and Audrey Blizard designed the production's lighting and sound, respectively. Both told The Press this play is unlike anything they've done before.

"The majority of the play takes place off the stage," said Guth, adding this made lighting a completely new experience.

The cast is composed of only 10 actors, most of whom play two roles.

Senior actors Harrison Eckert, Victoria Bartkavage and Bryan Sobczak talked with The Press about the challenges of portraying Williams' characters and playing more than one role.

"These were probably the most challenging roles I've ever had at Parkland just because it's so out of my element and it kind of represents Tennessee Williams' play writing," said Eckert, who portrays Moony in "Moony's Kid Don't Cry" and Tom in "The Pretty Trap."

"After doing a lot of character analysis and looking at the different scripts, you can kind of pick out bits and pieces that directly correlate to Tennessee William's life."

Victoria Bartkavage, who plays Gloria La Greene in "At Liberty," and Laura in "The Pretty Trap," commented on several of the plays' themes.

"Alcoholism is a huge theme in most of the works in this show; plus abandoned children and missing fathers is a huge one, too," said Bartkavage. "I think my favorite part about it, is it comes across as so simple. It's just put out in front of you, but there are so many deep layers, you can just keep pulling back and finding new ones."

Bryan Sobczak plays three roles in the production; The Husband in "Lord Byron's Love Letters," A Man in "Every Twenty Minutes" and The Writer in "Lady of Larkspur Lotion."

"I was more focused on how I could project different characters because all of my characters, while all drunks, are really all so different," said Sobczak. "My last character in 'Lady of Larkspur Lotion' is definitely the oldest. He has a huge revelation in the middle of the scene....and is basically the epitome of Tennessee Williams himself."

"It's all about people being trapped in different situations," Stutz explained. "Trapped by an overbearing mother, trapped in a marriage, trapped by life."

The small sets, Stutz said, gives the actors a feeling of being closed in and helps relate to the audience as well.

"We are all sentenced to solitary confinement inside our own skins, for life," a quote written by Tennessee Williams, accurately describes the theme running through this production.

"An Evening with Tennessee Williams" will be performed 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Jan. 30 and 31 in the Parkland High School auditorium. Box office opens at 6:30 p.m.