The Clackamas print., November 15, 2017, Page 6, Image 6

6
ARTS
AND
CULTURE
photo by Jared Preble
NEWS.AI
Clackamas Community College student Allison Andresen plays Blanche DuBois in “Streetcar” and interacts with Sten Eikrem’s character, Stanley Kowalski,
Throughout the short history o f literature in the United States, many prominent
figures have taken their turn in the spotlight. From Mark Twain’ s unapologetic
use of the vernacular of his tim e to Edgar Allan Poe’ s focus on short dark poetry,
there are examples of great American writers in nearly every conceivable genre.
Theatre is no exception. One of the greatest examples is Tennessee W illiatns’
“ A Sfreetcar Named D esire.” Known for both its Broadway production and its
Academy Aw ard-winning film adaptation, the play helped launch the careers of
several w ell-know n actors, including Marlon Brando, who would later become
universally famous for his role as Vito Corleone in “ The Godfather,” and Jessica
Tandy, known for her supporting role in Alfred Hitchcock’ s “ The Birds,” and as the
titular character in “ Driving M iss D aisy.”
For its inaugural play for the 2017-2018 seasonr
the Clackam as C om m unity College Theatre Arts
Department chose to perform “ Streetcar.” Opening
night, which took place on Nov. 9, highlighted the
work the departm ent put into the creation and
portrayal o f this play.
“ This was a really quick turnaround from the
b eginning o f the te rm ,” said Jam es Eikrem , the
director o f the play. “ We have less tim e to put up
our productions in the fall. Rehearsals have been
a b it longer, and there have been many additional
hours put into constructing a massive and impressive, beautiful se t.”
W hen entering the theater, the set was truly striking. Depicting the apartment
that acts as the setting of “ Streetcar,” the theater crew went to great lengths to
recreate the aesthetic o f 1940s New Orleans. From the bottles o i Jax beer th at the
his or her respective accent without any apparent difficulty. This, combined with
the settlesign, helped successfully portray the sm all section of New Orleans that
acts as the setting for the play.
A very noticeable aspect of the production is the lighting used during various
sections of the play. From one moment of the play to the next, it is used to portray
time of day, the tone of a scene, and even lightning in one scene. A recurring element
found at various points is a small paper lanternlhat the protagonist, Blanche DuBois,
portrayed by CCC student Allison Andresen, places over a lightbulb hanging in one
of the rooms of the sm all apartment. Adam Brown, the assistant stage manager,
pointed to this elem ent as som ething to watch throughout the play.
“ I think th e coolest part about that little tidbit is how
symbolically it shows the magic that Blanche sees the
world through, and to watch w henever th at lantern
m oves,” he said. “ It’ s a pretty powerful moment in the
show .”
Beyond the difficulty of successfully portraying 1940s
New Orleans on stage today, the cast faced another
challertge in sim ply taking on the play itself, one that
is so well known across multiple media.
“ This play is regarded as Tennessee W illiam s’ best
play,” said Billy McLendon, who portrays Harold ‘Mitch”
Mitchell. “ It’ s certainly one of his most famous. Everyone
knows, at least peripherally, ‘A Streetcar Named Desire.’ A lot of people associate
it w ith Marlon Brando, afid with really having his career take o ff in the role o f
Stanley, and that has certainly added a level of pressure, where we really want to
do this show justice, we really want to Eave a good show and have the people that
come see it say, ‘I saw A Streetcar Named Desire, and it was am azing. ’ ”
Despite that pressure, the actors succeeded magnificently. The most noteworthy
performance is from Sten Eikrem , the son of director Jam es Eikrem, who portrays
Stanley Kowalski. His portrayal of the character’ s em otional range is striking, and
he truly captures the rage felt by Stanley during some of the play’s darker moments.
- “ A Streetcar Named Desire” runs from Nov. 9-19, with performances Thursday-
Saturday at 7:30 p .m ., and Sunday at 2 3 0 p .m . There w ill also be a m atinee
performance on Friday, November 17 at 10 a.m . Tickets are $11 for adults, $5 for
students and children, and $9 for seniors over age 62.
“Mfe really want to do this show
justice, we really want to have a
good show.”
-
cast can be seen drinking from during different scenes throughout the play, to the
refrigerator, hand carved and modeled after one appropriate for the tim e, the crew
succeeded wonderfully in constructing the m ulti-story set.
Beyond the set itself, some effort was taken to allow the actors to perfect the
accents that would be appropriate for the region.
“ New Orleans was atypical for the South ,” said Eikrem. “ In all the research I’ve
done, the New Orleans accent Is more like a New York City accent than it is what
you would imagine a typical Southern accent would be lik e .”
The work appears to have paid off, as each actor was able to effectively showcase
Clackamas Print
Billy McLendon
th eclackam asp rin t.n et
NOVEMBER 15, 2017