A humble silence fell over the crowd as the first group headed to the stage.
With 26 students showing for the second night of auditions, and the knowledge that only seven will be behind that curtain on opening night, tension was running high.
With a cast chosen from every end of the community, NIC’s Theatre Instructor, Joe Jacoby, is bringing Larry Shue’s “The Foreigner” alive here at NIC this fall. The play is scheduled to kick off October 20-22, as well as the following weekend, October 27-28.
“The Foreigner,” written in the early 80’s by Larry Shue, runs about an hour and a half, consisting of two acts and, as Jacoby put it, this play “doesn’t skimp on the comedic lines.”
The play will be held in the Boswell Hall Performing Arts Center.
Jacoby originally came to NIC in the fall of 1999 to fill in for the current instructor who, at that time, was absent for the year.
“[I] fell in love with the place and so I just hung on teaching part time, until he retired and I was able to convince the school to hire me,” Jacoby said.
Jacoby raved about the play he chose, saying it is “well written,” and full of quality “jokes and character development”.
Cole Durbin, 20, a fourth semester NIC student came out to auditions after reading the play in his Theatre II class, taught by Jacoby. Durbin is going for his Theatre Associate of the Arts Degree.
This is not Durbin’s first time auditioning for a play at NIC. He was selected for the cast of “The Laramie Project,” “The Real Inspector Hound” and “The Actor.”
“Joe is awesome, he’s a great director,” Durbin said.
However, not everyone who showed up for auditions was seasoned in the arts.
Freshman John-Thomas Cameron is new here to Coeur d’Alene. He moved from North Carolina to start his college career at NIC, while also wrestling for the school team.
“I figured if I could get slammed in front of hundreds of people, I could get up on stage and say a few words,” Cameron said about the courage he had to muster for his first audition.
