The drama department will be hosting its latest student production, Tennessee Williams's “A Streetcar Named Desire,” directed by senior Bridgette Olson in the Thermond Drama Center the weekend before Thanksgiving break.
Olson became interested in directing this show when she saw it at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival during spring break of her sophomore year.
“I absolutely fell in love with the production, with the set and the with the relationships the characters had with one another,” Olson said. “It impacted me so much that it has been my top running show that I have wanted to do for a couple years.”
The show begins with Blanche (sophomore Leah Moustakas) moving in with her sister Stella (sophomore Sarah Traina) and Stella’s husband Stanley (senior Nik Aji). Blanche is different from most women in the 1940s because she sees herself as “the best,” causing her to engage in a series of disputes with Stanley that lead to Blanche getting hurt very badly.
At the Festival, Olson was mesmerized by the two-story house and gushing fountain the set showcased. Olson plans to mimic parts of this set.
Olson will be having wooden panels in the background and a side balcony on which her actors can go up and down. She is also searching for many home appliances to create a more domestic atmosphere since the set in Oregon was two-stories and showed a two-bedroom apartment.
In order to accomplish the task of completing the set on time, Olson anticipates that the Drama 4 Honors classes will help out as well friends and other drama students.
Besides the aesthetics of the show, Olson says that the deeper meaning and realistic message it conveys is relevant to life today.
For example, Olson contrasts the show with cinema saying that movies tend to omit the darker edges which surround romance whereas “Streetcar” delves into the theme of going back to abusive loved ones because of the familiarity surrounding it.
The show also delves into the gender discrepancies of the time and the effect of these dynamics on the characters.
“You see characters breaking barriers, but also being shoved back into them,” Olson said.
Due to the more serious themes in the play, Olson had to consult with her peers regarding who to cast for each character.
Also, since the four main roles have a lot of speaking parts, Olson took into consideration how to divvy up memorization deadlines for her actors so juniors and seniors taking part as a lead in the production did not feel overwhelmed.
Although most of the process has been smooth, Olson has run into a few issues. For example, she had to cast her stage manager and producer, senior Blake Propach, for the part of the collector since the previous cast member dropped out of the production. Olson has also found that balancing college apps and the show as well as rehearsals for the fall play was difficult.
Nevertheless, Olson believes being an actor in other productions has made directing much simpler. Olson describes directing and acting as “piggybacking on one another” and is excited to have the audience enjoy “Streetcar” as much as she did when she first saw it.