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Veteran Shakespeare director John Dennis leads construction on Tennessee Williams in Quarter Time, which bodes well for the loose, postmodern anthology of scenes set in the renowned author’s adopted home of New Orleans. With the blessing of the Williams estate, Dennis stitched the play together from Williams’ work as a tribute to the hobbling Crescent City.

Actress Andrea Frankle Molina stars in Quarter Time, which runs Feb. 1-19 at the Reilly Theatre (578-3527).

You play several parts, don’t you?

I am playing Blanche Dubois in a scene from A Streetcar Named Desire, Clare in Outcry and doing an excerpt from a screenplay titled Teardrop Diamond.

How did you get into theater?

Through my mother. She got into community theater, and my first play was with her. It was Oliver! My mom played Mrs. Sowerberry, and I was one of the orphan boys.

Quarter Time will be somewhat improvisational. How does that affect your performance?

Many of the scenes are built on improvisation. But that’s why we rehearse. Once we create that foundation, we can go anywhere we want within the boundaries we have set for ourselves. I cannot wait.

Tennessee Williams is a highly stylized writer with a large canon. Can you pick a favorite?

Probably Vieux Carre. Three years ago, I played Jane Sparks in a production of it. It has so many of Williams’ brushstrokes: the drafty boarding house in the Quarter run by an old biddy landlady who is always poking into her tenants’ business; the rugged, blue collar heartbreaker; the poet; the artist; the closeted homosexual. It has passion and darkness, lives wasted, the dampness of French Quarter streets and the coldness and sadness of facing death alone. You know, all the stuff Tennessee does best.

Quarter Time is a tribute to New Orleans. Having spent five years in the city and now living displaced, how important was it for you to participate in this performance?

My loss [after Katrina] wasn’t nearly as bad as others.’ The way people have taken care of each other has taught me a lot about the strength of the human spirit. It’s a reaffirming jolt of humanity. Now that I have been taken care of, I am ready to give back. And it all starts with this show.