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‘Next Bus to Bellevue’ brings comedy to work commute

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, March 18, 2026

By Matthew Nash

Director/writer Steve Fisher, right, talks to actors about his “Next Stage to Bellevue” to be read aloud at Olympic Theatre Arts’ Readers Theatre program March 20-22. Actors, from left, include Joe Shulz, Ken Burland, Mary Daniel, Bill Stone, Rebecca Maberry, Tara Dupont, and August Maberry.
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Director/writer Steve Fisher, right, talks to actors about his “Next Stage to Bellevue” to be read aloud at Olympic Theatre Arts’ Readers Theatre program March 20-22. Actors, from left, include Joe Shulz, Ken Burland, Mary Daniel, Bill Stone, Rebecca Maberry, Tara Dupont, and August Maberry.

Director/writer Steve Fisher, right, talks to actors about his “Next Stage to Bellevue” to be read aloud at Olympic Theatre Arts’ Readers Theatre program March 20-22. Actors, from left, include Joe Shulz, Ken Burland, Mary Daniel, Bill Stone, Rebecca Maberry, Tara Dupont, and August Maberry.
Sequim Gazette photos by Matthew Nash Mary Daniel, as Lizzie, reacts to Bill Stone’s “Man” in Olympic Theatre Arts’ upcoming Readers Theatre show “Next Bus to Bellevue.”
Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash/ Rebecca Maberry, as the “Woman,” rehearses a scene with Bill Stone’s “Man” for OTA’s “Next Bus to Bellevue” Readers Theatre show.

Inspired by his time as a workforce commuter, Steven Jay Fisher’s “Next Bus to Bellevue” is receiving its first ever performance this weekend at Olympic Theatre Arts.

Fisher, a former television show writer, said the play’s theme came to him about 20 years ago while working in corporate communications and commuting by bus from Bellevue to Seattle.

“I was just standing there on the platform one day, and it was pretty much just me, and then all these people started coming in, and they just kind of struck me as odd,” he said.

“And I just thought, what would happen if a guy, a commuter, got stuck in an underground bus station with a bunch of wacky people?”

“Next Bus to Bellevue” is an original show for Olympic Theatre Arts’ Readers Theatre program. Showtimes are set for 7 p.m. Friday-Saturday, March 20-21, and 2 p.m. Sunday, March 22, in OTA’s Gathering Hall, 414 N. Sequim Ave. For tickets, visit olympictheatrearts.org, or call the box office 1-4 p.m. Tuesdays-Fridays at 360-683-7326.

This Readers Theatre features no set and minimal costumes except for when “necessary for sight gags,” Fisher said. Actors read directly from Fisher’s script focused on their character’s words and intent.

Bill Stone plays the “Man” stuck overnight at the bus station who is married with two children and feels frustrated with his mid-level advertising job.

“It was just what I was going through at the time I wrote it,” Fisher said. “I was having my own midlife crisis in commuting every day and just thinking, ‘is this what life is all about? The constant grind of going, commuting, going to a job?’”

His hope is that people find the show “fun and quirky with some serious edges to it.”

“I think, despite the wackiness of some of the characters, people will find things to relate to in every character,” Fisher said.

The show is considered an ensemble with characters supporting each other while helping, in a way, Stone’s Man find himself.

Tara Dupont plays Merlene, a woman who gets right in the Man’s face, while Mary Daniel plays Lizzie, a Gothic teen. Other players include Ken Burland as Rocco, Joe Shulz as Dowdy, August Maberry as Grover, and Rebecca Maberry as the “Woman.”

Fisher doesn’t go into details about some of the characters to keep plot points intact.

He said characters have preconceptions about the Man that since he’s from Bellevue, he must be upper class and uppity.

“They’re constantly throwing that in his face, and he protests,” Fisher said.

“Not everyone from Bellevue is rich, and he doesn’t really subscribe to a lot of their notions.”

“Next Bus to Bellevue” is Fisher’s first full play performed at OTA following a few mini-plays presented during the theater’s “New Works Showcase.”

He said the opportunity is exciting to see the show come to life in a new way.

“When you’re writing a play, you have no idea what you’ve got,” Fisher said. “You may think in your mind it works, but you don’t really know until you get up in front of an audience or even have actors read it.

“So, just the thought of having actors doing the reading and audiences reacting to it is a great tool.”

Linda Alders also serves as stage manager for the show. For more information, visit olympictheatrearts.org.

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