Theatre Wesleyan will be showcasing students’ talent with Brendan Behan’s “The Hostage” from Nov. 1 to Nov. 11 at the Thad Smotherman Theatre.

Mariah Dawn Kuhn, a senior theatre major, will be playing the role of Teresa.

“‘The Hostage’ is about a brothel in Ireland that a British soldier is brought to by the IRA (Irish Republican Army) because there is a war going on between Britain and Ireland,” she said. “It is about them getting to know the British soldier and kind of growing to love him. When they find out that he is to be harmed, chaos ensues.”

Kuhn describes her character as sweet, exciting, and new.

“Teresa is really shy and meek,” she said. “She has lived in a nunnery her whole life. This is her first experience with the outside world, so she is really excited and open to getting to know everything, but it’s also a little scary for her because she hasn’t had interactions with anyone but nuns.”

Kuhn said Teresa is like a baby doe when it comes to her experiencing the outside world, which she hasn’t yet been exposed to.

“She has never had any negative actions toward somebody,” she said. “She is very sweet, she treats everybody kindly, but she doesn’t know anything about the world around her so she is just trying to figure it all out. She is really new to the world.”

Kuhn said she thinks the audience’s favorite part will be the very beginning of the show because of the audience interactions there will be.

“[The audience] gets pulled into the world that the designers, and the actors, and the director have created,” she said. “It is really exciting because they get to be a part of it instead of just watching it.”

Alexis Garcia, a freshman theatre major, is going to be interpreting the role of a British soldier.

“My character is named Leslie A. Williams. He is a 19-year-old English soldier who has been taken hostage by remnants of the IRA (Irish Republican Army),” he said. “Leslie is a witty fellow who loves his country, so he joins the army.”

Garcia said people with a sense of humor should definitely go see the show.

“‘The Hostage’ is a very fun play, but it is also kind of serious at some points,” he said.

He would describe the show as funny, tragic, and dark.

“[The show is] funny because it is a funny play, tragic because it has a tragic ending, and dark because the setting is in a dark pub which is generally described as a dark place,” he said.

Garcia’s favorite part of the production process will be getting to see the audience’s reaction when they see the show.

“To me that is a sign that we are doing a good job as a theatre,” he said.

Assistant directing the show will be Malik Offor, a junior theatre major.

He said his role in “The Hostage” is to “really to help the director out.”

“Working on the show has showed me how collaborative making theatre is,” he said. “The actors come with something new every day and me and Karen (Potter), the director, will change it a little bit or move it to other spot in the play. It gives the show a different energy because everyone is working hard to make the show good.”

He said a unique characteristic of “The Hostage” is the style it is written in.

“The style in which the show is written is very different compared to what most plays are in that the dialogue that breaks the fourth wall is very pointed to the audience, and it is a very self-aware show,” Offor said. “The characters know that they live in a planet. It is a very fun thing to watch on stage.”

He said the audience can expect to go see a really fun show.

“It is really funny, there is fourth wall breaking, lots of physical humor and music,” Offor said. “It’s almost a musical but not quite.”

“The Hostage” runs Nov. 1-11 at the Thad Smotherman Theatre. Showtimes are 7:30 p.m. except for Nov. 11, when showtime is 2 p.m. Tickets are free to Texas Wesleyan students and available at txwes.edu/theatre. For more information, call 817-531-4211 or go to [email protected].