A Production on Two Wheels: Bicycle Noir

by Molly Gilmore for OLY ARTS

Bicycle Noir is theater on the move. Bicycling is an integral part of the comedy by Olympia’s Bryan Willis — and it won’t be just the cast that’s on wheels. The audience will be on bikes, too, cruising the Capitol campus with stops for the action. No worries, though, if you’re not a die-hard cyclist. The route of about a mile doesn’t involve hills. “You don’t have to be ready for the Tour de France,” Willis said. “It’s going to be a very low-impact ride.” And riding isn’t de rigueur: Walkers are welcome at the 6 p.m., October 1 show, which will have a shorter route.

“It’s a film-noir parody with an Olympia flavor, and it’s just a lot of fun,” director Deane Shellman said. The hard-boiled investigator is a woman (Sara Geiger) and her attractive assistant is a man (Jordan Richards). And the show includes what Willis calls an “homme fatale” (Jeff Kingsbury). Noir will be part campus tour, with some stops showcasing public art. The tour is only one new element for those who saw the show when it debuted along the waterfront in August 2015, or at Open Road Productions’ dinner-theater version at Pellegrino’s. Topical references will be updated, and the show leaves plenty of room for improvisation and interaction with passersby.

This production features two new scenes with students from the Academy of International Education, a program that gets college students from Japan involved in theater to improve their English-language skills. “We’ve been doing little ad-hoc, Japanese-drumming concerts in downtown Olympia as part of our rehearsal,” said Willis, who leads the program.

What: Bicycle Noir

Where: Capitol steps, north side,
Capitol Campus,
416 Sid Snyder Ave. SW, Olympia

When: noon, 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. Sundays, Sept. 24 and Oct. 1

How much: pay what you can

Get tickets: email | Northwest Playwrights Alliance

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