Scene 1 focuses on the arrival of Blanche Dubois in New Orleans. She has come to stay with her sister, Stella. Both Blanche and Stella were raised in the country on their family's former plantation
called Belle Reve in the town of Laurel. They come from what is known as "old money." Stella,
however, moved away and married a man named Stanley Kowalski, a Polish immigrant who fought for
the US in WWII and now works in a factory. The circumstances of Blanche's exit from their former
hometown and her need to stay with her sister are cloaked in secrecy.
1. How is New Orleans described in the opening stage directions? What about the apartment/street
where the play takes place?