Barbara Neri

Play/Screenplay // Unlocking Desire

Unlocking Desire - FILM

 

letters spraypainted on sidewalk with the word desire beneath

BRIEF SYNOPSIS

A woman arrives at an institution claiming to be Blanche DuBois. There she meets diverse inmates that evoke shadow characters in Tennessee Williams' play and people from his real life. As identities blur, secrets are unlocked and questions are answered but all is not as it seems, for the woman who convinces us she is Blanche is not. Rather she is a Blanche of today lost in the tragic world of Williams play and emerging from the post-Katrina landscape of New Orleans and the cities, such as Detroit, where survivors were scattered. Ultimately Unlocking Desire is a wholly original work, transformative, poetic and intelligent; a story with a new purpose that will surprise and entertain as it provokes and moves audiences

Feature length Drama/Mystery/LGBTQIA+.

 

2022 marked the 75th anniversary of the 1947 premiere of Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire. In recognition of this we announce that UNLOCKING DESIRE has been in development and is now in pre production with a start date of Summer 2024. Contact us at: info@unlockingdesirefilm.com for more information and the logins for the Unlocking Desire Film Page where our concept trailer, character descriptions, marketing, deck, locations and more are found.

 

Interior location behind the scenes photo taken during the Unlocking Desire concept trailer shoot. Actor Calhoun Koenig, Gaffer Andy Westra & DP Peter Poulos.

Behind the scenes photo taken during the Unlocking Desire concept trailer shoot on Belle Isle, Detroit. Actor: Zakiyyah BG as 'Blanche.'

 

Cannes Film Festival logo

 

Most recently the Unlocking Desire film project was ANNOUNCED at the Cannes Film Festival in Variety.

The Unlocking Desire producers are aiming for a festival run that will include the Cannes Film Festival

 

 

 

 

From the Heart spring grant finalist

Unlocking Desire was a FINALIST for the From the Heart Productions spring 2023 grant. Unlocking Desire lost to a documentary film in post production, but Founder / Director Carole Lee Dean called Unlocking Desire "the best art house film we have seen in years." From the Heart Productions is also Unlocking Desire's FISCAL SPONSOR. Meaning that you can make a donation to the Unlocking Desire film project through From the Heart Productions and receive a tax deduction! From the Heart Proucutions is a renowned thirty year old 501c3 orgnaization with an unbeaten record of helping Independent Filmmakers get their films funded.

Click here to safely make a donation to the Unlocking Desire Film Project

You will be provided with the proper information to deduct this donation on your taxes. You will also be thanked by name in the Unlocking Desire film credits!

 

"Kicks" a work in progress poem written by Tennessee Williams in 1976 that Barbara Neri DISCOVERED in The Williams Research Center in The Historic New Orleans Collection, and that in part inpired Neri to write Unlocking Desire, has been PUBLISHED with Neri's editor's note in the 2021 Tennessee Williams Annual Review.

 

Barbara Neri's wellspring of RESEARCH that led to her writing Unlocking Desire has been PUBLISHED in the 2018 Tennessee Williams Annual Review Neri's article is entitled: "Loving Thee Better After Death: Tennessee Williams allusion to Elizabeth Barrett Browning and her Sonnets from the Portuguese in A Streetcar Named Desire". Along with the article, TWAR also published one of Neri's visual art works, "Double Vision," a stereograph construct that can be seen here.

 

 

Marfa Film festival best screenplay award image Barbara Neri's screen adaptation of UNLOCKING DESIRE was named a 2017 quarterfinalist by LA's CineStory Foundation Fellowship Competition. Neri's UNLOCKING DESIRE screenplay also WON the 2017 MARFA FILM FESTIVAL SCREENPLAY COMPETITION and was read live by professional actors from across Texas during the Marfa Film Festival held July 12-16 in Marfa Texas.

 

 

 

 

Actors Ralph Neri (narrator), Indigo Real (Rose), Jennifer Griffin (Violante), Adam Guerra (Hank), Jem Goulding (Blanche), Woody Mitchell (Raoul) reading Unlocking Desire at 2017 Marfa Film Festival (Ken DeZarn (Jim), Lorraine Lemon (Ozzie) and director Amy Goodyear are off camera.)

Marfa Film Festival director Robin Lambaria and Barbara Neri at the 2017 reading of her winning screenplay Unlocking Desire.

 

 


 

UNLOCKING DESIRE - PLAY

 

UNLOCKING DESIRE was originally Neri's play that premiered and was preformed September 23 through October 8, 2011 at Detroit's Marlene Boll Theater. Read John Quinn's review: Unlocking the past; unlocking the future

 

Blanche's Dream in Detroit

Below is a slide show of images, taken in Detroit September 5, 2011, that served as both an epilogue and prologue to Neri's play UNLOCKING DESIRE The locations are now part of Neri's screenplay adaptation of her play . Read more about what inspired these images here

 

 

 

CAST (from 2011 play production)

Blanche - Linda Rabin Hammell

Hank - Sean Rodriguez

(Lafayette - as himself)

PHOTOGRAPHY Charles Toeppe

September 5, 2011

 

 

PLAY DEVELOPMENT

A scene from Neri's play was presented on Nov 8, 2008 at a 555 Gallery Studio Fundraiser event "555 Bailout" www.555arts.org. Neri's play Unlocking Desire was read on March 16, 2010, at the Planet Ant Theater in Hamtramk, MI. Unlocking Desire was also read August 19, 2010 as part of the Renegade Theater Festival in Lansing MI. Read Tom Helma's review . Unlocking Desire was also read January 31, 2011 at The New Theater Project at 'MIX' in Ypsilanti, MI. Thanks to all these fine organizations!

 

PREMIERE PERFORMANCE Unlocking Desire

Barbara Neri's play was produced in a multimedia, site specific, world premiere production in the heart of Detroit at the Marlene Boll Theater located in the downtown YMCA at 1401 Broadway. Nine performances (September 23 through October 8, 2011) were produced by KHOROS Inc. a non-profit Michigan arts organization founded in 1982. The production was Artistic Directed by Barbara Neri, Directed by John Jakary, Scenic Design by Elisa Limberg of Berlin, Germany, lighting Design by Dave Early, Costume Design Jomarie Soszynski and projections of original photography, video and New Orleans archival images edited by Alivia Zivich. The production featured Detroit Metro’s finest actors – Linda Rabin Hammell, Kenny Kono, J Michael Morgan, Eric Niece, Sean Paraventi, Yolanda Perez, Madelyn Porter, Sean Rodriguez, Kristen Wagner and Krista Schafer.

2011 marked the 100th birthday of Tennessee Williams - our poet of the American Theater. And though not written with his centenary in mind, Neri's Unlocking Desire was a fascinating homage to him. Read the 2011 Press Release

 

 

PRESS|REVIEW|PODCAST

Listen to the podcast from: Encore LIVE! - Unlocking the secrets behind 'Unlocking Desire'

 

 

Read John Quinn's review: Unlocking the past; unlocking the future

 

Hear the WDET interview with Rob St Mary. Learn about D/NOLA: Local Artist is 'Unlocking Desire' to build Detroit-New Orleans Connection

 

 

SET DESIGN SET DESIGN

 

Image: Elisa Limberg, scenic designer from Berlin Germany and resident artist at Detroit's 555 Gallery, created the site specific set design for Barbara Neri's "Unlocking Desire."

 

See more images of Elisa Limberg’s set for Unlocking Desire: https://www.elisalimberg.com/projekte-1/unlocking-desire/