Sometimes when you go in to see a play, you measure the theater building and think you have it all figured out.
The theater looks drafty, there are too many people, and they smiled at you when you took your ticket. The lights look funky on the outside – Well that’s not good at all, this play is going to be horrible isn’t it? And the chairs creek?! Five points from Bellevue College. ‘Ha ha ha, I know how this game works,’ you think to yourself.
So when you sit down inside the theater ignoring everything around you, feeling like you might as well just read the program throughout the show – not going to miss much – the lights turn off slowly, everyone else around you silencing in some energized anticipation, like they know something you don’t.
Then a tiny red light brightens on the stage fireplace, and every piece of the most realistic set you have ever seen comes to life with the warmth from a simple light trick.
Somehow, the Bellevue Theater Department constructed the inside of a southern country lodge on stage, and each prop inside of it – on the walls, on the stairs, the second floor, the living room and the register – pull you in. The program you had planned to weild the rest of the night falls between your legs.
The music brings to life perfectly the world in which “The Foreigner”, written by Larry Shue, was cast in. Two strangers with British accents come onstage to talk, and then an old southern woman bursts on stage and an amazing thing happens.
You realize the play is a comedy, and it is really, really hilarious.
Directed by Tammi Doyle, the faculty head at BC’s Theater Department, “The Foreigner” starred Bellevue College students Tyler Sawers, Maddie Dugan, Curtis Gehlhausen, Fred Tse, Logan Wilgus, Danika Drake, James Webster, and exceeded all of my high expectations.
Not only had the cast and crew managed to create a beautiful, humorous play their audiences loved, but they delved into the story on stage and simply enjoyed their characters, making the play feel completely at home to those watching – something most actors and actresses spend their entire lives trying to accomplish.
“The Foreigner” was by far one of my favorite shows here at BC, and I give this production two thumbs up for their creativity. If you missed “The Foreigner”, make sure to buy tickets for next quarter’s production of “Spring Awakening.” BC’s Theater Department surprises me every quarter and I can’t wait until spring.