Another Stellar Performance

By Laurie Borst

The weekend before Thanksgiving saw the production of A Streetcar Named Desire at Newtown High School. It was a brilliant showing from a talented drama club.

Keilly McQuail gave an amazing performance as the fragile Blanche DuBois. Maia Jacoby was solid as Blanche’s sister, Stella, caught between her sister and her domineering husband, Stanley. Brian Stickles embraced the role of the brutish Stanley Kowalski with intensity.

How does a teen from Newtown get inside the character of Stanley Kowalski?

“Williams laid out how Stanley should be played. It’s in the script, several pages,” Brian offered. “And Williams is so brilliant, it’s hard to mess it up.”

The play was directed by NHS  senior Nathaniel Basch-Gould, who has been involved in theater since middle school.

“I realized the opportunities a student has at this school and wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to direct, to broaden my horizons and gain new understanding outside the actor’s role,” Nathaniel said.

 “I like the comic stuff, but high schools always do farces. Not much attention is paid to drama,” Nathaniel said when asked about the choice of Streetcar. “I wanted to do a strong piece like that, like Tennessee Williams. I knew we had the talent to do it.”

The play is familiar to many of the students as it is taught in a number of classes.

In preparing for the play, Nathaniel said, “I had seen it on Broadway, but avoided the Brando movie. I wanted to stay close to the text.

“And we had an awesome cast. The power of the piece brought them together,” said the director.

Brian Stickles agreed. “It was a fantastic cast. Keilly was incredible. This was the tightest cast I’ve ever worked with.

“This was the best crew in a long time. Ethan Reed, the technical manager, was so impressive with construction,” he added.

Brian, a senior, has performed ensemble roles in recent high school productions and small roles in other plays. Streetcar was his first nonmusical. Freshman year, he had his first theatrical experience in Les Miserables.

Looking to the future, Brian is considering studying law. “It’s like acting, you’re in front of people trying to convince them.”

Skidmore College is his top choice for school. “It offers everything, liberal arts with a strong theater base. I will continue to do theater. It’s what I do, I want to stay with it.”

Nathaniel is planning to study theater, acting, and directing.

“I hope this is the first of many shows with big ticket sales,” Brian said, as he reported this fall’s four performances saw approximately 650 tickets sold.

“Tell people ... about Newtown High School theater. It’s just getting better,” Nathaniel said. “It’s art and art needs an audience.”