'Streetcar' rolls into Central High

In a departure from its fall musical "Thoroughly Modern Millie," Cape Girardeau Central High School's Red Dagger Club is tackling some darker material this week with "A Streetcar Named Desire."

The Tennessee Williams play, which was made into a movie starring Marlon Brando, centers on Blanche DuBois; her sister, Stella Kowalski; Stella's husband, Stanley; and Harold "Mitch" Mitchell.

Blanche, an aging Southern belle with a checkered past who lost the family's estate but still has delusions of grandeur, moves in with Stella and Stanley in a working-class neighborhood in New Orleans, and drama ensues.

Billy Mikoliza, left, as Harold “Mitch” Mitchell and Brendan Williams as Pablo Gonzales rehearse a scene from “A Streetcar Named Desire” at Cape Girardeau Central High School. (Fred Lynch)

Speech and drama teacher Ed Cole acknowledges that the play is challenging for high school-age students, but researching online he found many other high schools had staged it.

Cole said he shied away from "Streetcar" before because he wasn't sure he'd be able to cast it here. It has to have a certain balance of actors and actresses and the characters are "supposed to be very physical types" and "have specific physical attitudes," Cole said.

But it was the students, acting on a suggestion from an English teacher, who encouraged him to try it. The students also helped recruit potential cast members.

" ... They sort of perused the talent pool here at Central and they assured me they could get people to audition and they actually recruited some of the guys that came to audition for Stanley Kowalski. We ended up getting a good turnout and I decided to try it anyway and see how it worked and it's been working out great," Cole said.

Riley Knight, left, as Stella Kowalski, and Caitlyn Limbaugh as Eunice Hubbell rehearse a scene from “A Streetcar Named Desire” at Cape Girardeau Central High School. (Fred Lynch)

"I like to expand their theatrical horizons whenever I can," Cole added. "I like to try things that they haven't tried in the past."

Cast members, who include Billy Mikoliza (Harold "Mitch" Mitchell), Breanne Bleichroth (Blanche), Lucas Young (Stanley), Riley Knight (Stella) and Caitlyn Limbaugh (Eunice), are enjoying the challenge, as well. Many of the cast members hadn't seen the movie version of the play before, so a viewing party was held.

Most hadn't seen the 1951 film before, but Bleichroth was a fan because of Marlon Brando, who portrays Stanley in the movie.

"I'd seen the movie. I'd seen it like a million times because I'm a huge Marlon Brando fan, so when I actually told Mr. Cole three months ago that we should do 'Streetcar Named Desire' ... he laughed in my face and thought I was crazy. Then he [cast] me as the person who's actually crazy, so it's a very intense show and there's a lot of emotional layers to it," Bleichroth said. "Every character has many different sides. They're not just one person. You have to really explore who we are and our experiences and stuff in order to understand our characters, so it's difficult, but it's definitely interesting."

Even the smaller roles are meaty, said Limbaugh, who plays Eunice, Stella and Stanley's upstairs neighbor.

"She's really tough, but she's really welcoming to newcomers and she's just very open and she's not afraid to say what she thinks, which is kind of interesting because I'm not really that way. ... It's interesting just to kind of push yourself and do something you're not used to, as far as characters go," Limbaugh said.

Limbaugh added that "Streetcar" was a "great movie."

"I loved the emotional depth that went into all the characters; and that's another thing, even though I don't have a very big part, you just have to dig deeper even to get to the small parts," she said.

Many of the students said their characters are the complete opposite of who they are, but in some cases there are elements students can relate to.

"I think I'm probably most like my character," Knight said, "but Stella has a lot of fight in her, and even though she's in a really, really rough situation, she's got some kick. She doesn't let Stanley push her over most of the time until it gets to the point of physical abuse; then she backs down a little bit. ..."

Bleichroth said she finds Blanche "relatable" because she's haunted by her past.

" ... We all have a past that we think is pretty dark and we all have secrets we don't want to tell people," Bleichroth said. However, she added, her personal past is nowhere close to Blanche's.

Show time is 7 p.m. today through Saturday at the Richard D. Kinder Performance Hall on the high school campus. Tickets are $5 for students with valid student ID, and $7 for adults.

rcampbell@semissourian.com

388-3639

Pertinent address:

1000 S. Silver Springs Road, Cape Girardeau, Mo.