The Nicholls Players are deep into rehearsals for the production of “A Streetcar Named Desire,” which will be directed by assistant professor of mass communication Stanley Coleman.Tennessee Williams’ play is set in New Orleans’ historical Faubourg Marigny district near the French Quarter and exposes the area’s indulgences and madnesses during the height of the Industrial Age. The play will be performed Oct. 22-25 in Talbot Theater.
Each cast member is in the process of learning their character and preparing to deliver their role on stage.
“It will be a challenge to play such a complex character,” education graduate student Christian Samaha said about playing the iconic role of Blanche Dubois. “One minute she is harsh, the next minute she is weak, soft and cowering, and then suddenly she is hysterical.”
“I’m pretty terrified,” Jeannette Burke, general studies senior from Houma, said about her role as Blanche’s emboldened sister Stella Kowalski. “This is a popular play. The cast is going up against some lofty people who played these characters. The audience knows about them and associates with them easily.”
Playing the role of Stella’s brutish husband, Stanley Kowalski, Kirk Savoie, education graduate student from Houma, said he understood the reputation of Brando and the character he made popular on Broadway and film.
“There is no way I can compete with Brando, but I will certainly portray Stanley as best as I can,” Savoie said.
“Coming from New Orleans, being in this play is a big deal,” freshman Shay Ives said about playing the role of Blanche’s would-be suitor, Harold Mitchell. “In New Orleans, there are restaurants, places and a festival every year that celebrates this play.”
The cast has worked through rehearsals for the last three weeks with scripts in hand, no major scenery on stage and none of the props that will be used in the production. The cast said by the end of this week they will probably be on their own without the aid of the script.
At that time, they will work with some props and further work the chemistry between each other as actors.
Samaha wants the audience to watch how she will develop the personality behind Blanche on stage.
“I want to play each level of Blanche so well that the audience can’t figure her out,” she said. “I want to have the audience’s hearts so they empathize with Blanche at the end.”
Burke said she will give the audience a different approach as Stella.
“I have to give the audience an intimate experience,” Burke said. “The cast has to make the audience feel like they are with the characters right there at the window (of their lives) and be able to peer into that window.”
Savoie has a simple strategy to conquering Stanley’s aggressive behavior.
“Stanley is such a dude. He was such a beast,” he said. “I will try to be the best a-hole I can be.”
Ives believes that all of the characters will go through an emotional journey.
“This is an intense play that has so many feelings all of us have experienced, and none of those feelings are good,” he said. “Without those feelings the play will never get off the ground.”
Even though there is that common core all the actors feel about the play, they want the play to be unique to the way the Nicholls Players do all of their productions.
“Many people have read and studied this play, so it won’t be the first time they have seen it,” Burke said, regarding the task ahead for the entire cast. “As the Nicholls Players, we have to make it our own and still be true to what Tennessee Williams wanted.
