From July 31 to Aug 13, the cast of A Streetcar Named Desire went to the Fringe Festival to perform their play. PHS was one of the 50 high schools chosen by the American High School Theatre Festival (AHSTF) from the 2,000 applicants to perform at the festival.

Acting teacher Kim Taylor directed A Streetcar Named Desire and helped to organize the trip.

“I was thinking about something new to do; I wanted something new and challenging and I knew that the play already was challenging and a great play to bring,” she said.

Taylor had gotten the idea from Berkeley High School, which had performed at the festival a couple of years ago, she said.

“The festival was wild because everyday we went up on the main drag there would be people dressed up in costumes, reciting parts of their play, getting you to come see it, giving out flyers. There would be magicians performing in the street, and then of course you have the attendees who are all just amazed and taking it all in,” senior Billy Ireland said.

Though performing at the fringe festival was a once in a lifetime experience, Ireland think that the best part of the trip was just being in Edinburgh because it is so exotic, he said.

“Edinburgh as a city is very different from anything you will ever see in America because Edinburgh is a much older city and has many older buildings, Ireland said, “When you look over the city you can see all the big old churches and cathedrals everywhere, with spires shooting up over the rest of the city.”

Junior Conner Christiansen, who also went on the trip, said that he really enjoyed it because it was the first time he had ever been to Europe and it was a great adventure.

“The most memorable part was climbing up Arthur’s Seat, a hill above Edinburgh on the clearest day we were there,” he said.

While in Edinburgh, the acting students saw a lot of shows, ate haggis, did traditional Scottish Kaylee dancing, saw the military tattoo, a small performance of various commonwealth nations, and toured the fishing villages, sterling castle, and St. Andrews, where they actually putted on the St. Andrews golf course.

“We saw this one show, this musical called Urinetown, and it was very funny, and I’m more interested in comedic things, than I am dramatic, so I thought it was hilarious. I was laughing the whole time,” Ireland said, “It had great songs too. We actually became friends with some people in the cast also.”

However, preparing for the trip was less exciting.

“We had to change [the play] because our stage is about double the size of the stage we had there so we had to reblock it and put in movement so that it was ready for that other space. We also had to come back and rehearse again in the summer,” Taylor said.

In addition, senior Dan Meade and former seniors Max Becker and Julian Ring, members of the original cast, could not make the trip, so they were replaced with Christiansen, Ireland, and former senior Aliza Theis.

The cost for the trip was $70,000 total, but the price varied per person depending on how much they were willing to donate. They were able to raise the rest, about $40,000, by putting on plays at PHS’s Allen Harvey Theater and by asking others for donations.

“We had to raise a lot of money for it to happen, so it’s certainly stressful. Never say never, but its going to be a while before we do it again because it was a lot of money to raise,” Taylor said.

However stressful the event may have been, the acting program was able to do it and it proved to be a worthwhile experience, Christiansen said.

“I feel like I have grown as an actor by seeing that you can perform all over the world and that acting can open a lot of doors if you are lucky,” he said.

Taylor agrees and thinks that it the trip gave her students more independence and confidence in their acting.

“[The trip] was amazing and a lot of fun,” Ireland said, “I would love to do something like that again.”