An actress reflects on The Foreigner

Posted by admin on Nov 26, 2010 in Arts & Culture | 0 comments

Art is a vehicle to examine aspects of culture we might overlook and to challenge our place in it. Over the past five weeks, while rehearsing a comedy called The Foreigner with SAMC Theatre, I have gradually encountered the story’s weightier issues and what they mean not only for Christian artists, but for every follower of Christ – given our calling to be transformers of culture.

In the words of Ron Reed, Trinity Western University theatre professor and Artistic Director of Pacific Theatre, “The Foreigner is one of the most ‘Kingdom of God’ plays I know.” Larry Shue’s play introduces a whole bunch of broken people. One has lost both her parents and finds herself a “foreigner” of sorts in her own country. One is mentally disabled and misunderstood. Another is widowed and tiring out. The man we consider the “hero” is at heart deeply insecure and lonely. All these people find each other and by the end of the story forge a new community: a family.

The characters are all from different cultures – English, American, old, young, rich, poor, and places in between. Yet despite their differences, they find hope and love in community. They realize their potential not as individuals, but as a whole.

At the heart of any classic comedy is a life-affirming theme. Though we may laugh at the characters’ bizarre and miserable predicaments, we are inspired and touched as they find the courage to face their hardships. United, they can triumph over evil. Isn’t that what makes up the Kingdom of God?

While good does triumph, The Foreigner warns against an insidious mutation of Christianity. It is a cautionary tale of the evil people can do “in the name of God.” The characters in the play who call themselves Christians are ironically and tragically the ones hungry for power and willing to trample anyone who stands in their way. They violently seek to eradicate anyone who is different or “weak.” The sad truth is there are many “Christians” who use their own version of the gospel to oppress, instead of realizing that “the last shall be first.”

It is ultimately the audience who will receive the story. It will speak to each individual slightly differently. For me, stories revolving around community – and within it the potential for both corruption and edification – ask the all-important question of what kind of Christ-follower I want to be. What does it mean to follow Jesus in today’s culture?