Director Ingrid Schwalbe offers gifts galore in the Whidbey Playhouse’s production of Tennessee Williams’ 1947 Pulitzer-winning “A Streetcar Named Desire,” opening Friday in Oak Harbor. She succeeds at placing you in New Orleans, with black and white photos rotating on the pull down screen between scenes and before the curtain rises showing a French Quarter that is as much 19th as 20th century. The cast’s southern accents ring true to these northern ears.

Schwalbe recruited Valetta Faye, who sings jazz tunes during scene changes in a nod to the play’s French Quarter setting. A professional voc...