Blanche Survives Katrina In a FEMA Trailer Named Desire

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***** (five stars) Despite the play’s sketchy-sounding premise—just read the title—writer-performer Mark Sam Rosenthal has dreamed up a thoughtful, laugh-out-loud story based on one film icon’s descent into reality: hilarious, a little bit heartbreaking and (at the risk of adding another blurbable adjective) really smart. The idea is that A Streetcar Named Desire’s Blanche DuBois still lives in New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina hits; she’s rescued from her flooded home and deposited in the Superdome. (As she lilts in one of Rosenthal’s gently biting Southernisms: “In a pot full of café, I seem to be one of the few drops of au lait.”) A Baton Rouge native with a personal connection to the storm, Rosenthal dons various blond wigs to match Blanche’s mood swings and indelicately jokes about issues of race, poverty and government ineptitude. He’s a convincing impersonator, extrapolating a familiar character into new but logical territory. (Knowing the original Streetcar isn’t a prerequisite for seeing this show.) Like all great comedy, it’s funny because it’s true—and even better because it’s so absurd.—Billie Cohen, Deputy Editor