Western Carolina University launched "Resident Alien," a new musical written by Katya Stanislavskaya, as the inaugural production of Stage and Screen’s brand new Niggli Series, which seeks to develop and showcase new plays and musicals for the American stage. As staged readings, the events included actors reading and singing with scripts and scores in hand, but without costumes or sets and with much of the dramatization left to the audience’s imaginations. The reading was directed by Terrence Mann, a star of Broadway and WCU’s Phillips Distinguished Professor of Musical Theatre. Without all the major production behind it, the reading featured both student and faculty actors, including the first lady of WCU, Susan Belcher. The readings occurred on October 31 and November 1.

According to the playwright, “Storytelling issues that may not be obvious on the page become obvious once the piece is seen and heard in a workshop, and so the author gets an invaluable experience to propel the show forward." Hence, this new program is invaluable to writers like Katya and others, and it is really awesome to see the process and what could be.

When I heard about the event, I was really excited. As an aspiring writer and lover of theater, I couldn't wait to go see this reading for myself. Plus, WCU's Stage and Screen department is filled with incredibly talented people, and a few close friends were in it. I couldn't miss it for anything, even on Halloween. Wait, I know what you could be thinking: why should I talk about and review an event that happened a while ago? I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to review or advertise staged readings, considering so much could be changed. I won't reveal too much, but I want to talk about what this show meant to me.

"Resident Alien" is a fictional story of Sasha, Sveta, and Nastya Berdichevsky, who were part of the third wave of Russian immigration in the 1990s. There are three lead characters: Sasha, a professor stuck in the past, Sveta, a musician willing to adapt, and Nastya, a teenager whose culture shock coincides with her coming of age. The Berdichevsky’s represent the full spectrum of the successes and failures of the immigrant experience. "Resident Alien" is about the personal choices every “alien” faces in a new world: which parts of himself or herself to retain, and which to jettison in order to succeed.

Earlier this year, Stanislavskaya found out that “Resident Alien” had won the New Musical Award from the Weston Playhouse Theatre Company in Weston, Vermont.

It was of little surprise (at least, to me) that it did. The show when presented at WCU was met with high praise. Admittedly, I came twice just so I could see the show again, I loved it so much. I came in not knowing what to expect the first time, and I was moved to almost to tears at certain points. How could I forget something that stuck with me, that haunted me? That's what "Resident Alien" did. It told me a story I couldn't forget.

While still in the process of becoming a full show, so many things worked. There was so much thought behind every piece of dialogue, every note and every line. The show was not only funny, but brutally honest. "Resident Alien" dealt with the process of being Americanized, and it dealt with all of the emotions that it came with through the characters.

Coming to America to live here, you might have to change your name and toss out your past and change and change and change until you might not even recognize yourself or where you came from, but know that you're "finally free to be you." You can be whatever you want to be, but at every street and every corner who you are is constantly questioned. What is the right way to go with yourself? No one knows, not even Americans. One of my favorite lines that may not make the show perfectly displays this point: "We are like statues, and this country is a chisel."

I particularly related with Nastya, who got made fun of and left behind in her education system because those she was selected to work with in school refused to work with her because she was "slowing them down." It just reminded me of how people can be so focused on efficiency and getting something accomplished that they don't even think of others being left behind. I was sickened by how often selfishly individualized America's culture can be, and how many simply don't want to offer a helping hand to anyone, but especially if they are an immigrant.

I related to the father, who had underachieved dreams. I related to the mother who was closer and closer to living out hers. There's so much to like about this show. I know for a fact that if this show ever came anywhere around here I would take my good friends to see it. It's a fantastic work that I truly believe is going places. More often than not, this show made me angry and even sick to my stomach. The fact that not even a full production, but a staged reading brought such emotions out of me to me is incredible. As a whole, "Resident Alien" is striking and beautifully human.

This show forced me to reflect on how everyone has a battle they are going through, and really showed me that often my own problems (while often legitimate) are so little in comparison to others. I am still thankful for what I was raised with and to be where I was in college and to have the opportunities I have today.

The audience was left with the importance of relationships, the family's constant struggle, and assimilation. "The show lends perspective," Ian Scott stated, "it's something that those who are from America really don't think about."

This lead me to think about the current Syrian refugee crisis. How many men, women and children are without shelter, education, healthcare, good clothing, and any amount of support system in fleeing the destruction and the violence of their home country? Over 12 million Syrians have fled their homes and half of them are children. I can't imagine what all those people are going through.

I don't know what the right answer is to current immigration, and I don't know enough about it to make a solid opinion at this time of writing, but something needs to be done. These people cannot be left homeless in the wake of their bloody civil war. Something must be done. I commend Canada most recently for opening up their doors when America is too frightened to let them in, in a most recent article saying that they're going to fly in 900 refugees a day and hopes to have flown in 25,000 Syrian refugees by the end of the year.

While "Resident Alien" dealt with the issues of being an American citizen and what they have to do to adapt to their new world, there's also to think of those who are looking for opportunities of a new life from their own that have been taken from them and destroyed. Immigration is a modern hot topic political issue, and I don't know what the future is. What I do know is that I think once "Resident Alien" reaches its final edits and it is finally released and staged that it will become an important piece of American theater. This show has taught me that I don't really know anything about what others are going through, and that I should be respectful and kind to each other, and especially to our resident aliens. Maybe they don't have to be treated so much differently. Maybe they can be treated as citizens, instead. Maybe.

All I know is that I look forward to Katya Stanislavskaya's "Resident Alien" on bigger and better stages, because it deserves to be there.