GailFoster

Gail Foster joined our Design team 14 years ago aand has continued to support our Lead Designers, and takes every chance she gets to design products from start to finish. Some of her most recent projects have been several of our UTV additions to our collection. What she enjoys most about her job is being part of the variety and scope that are available at Classic Accessories and appreciates the atmosphere of teamwork and respect for each other’s contributions. She is a major contributor to such an innovative design team.

Around Classic Accessories, Gail is known for her drama, and in the best way. This girl is a fantastic actress who is classically trained. She has taken her love of acting and brought it outdoors at the Kitsap Outdoor Theater. A treasured family tradition in the greater Seattle arts community since 1923, The Mountaineers Players continues to bring Puget Sound audiences quality outdoor theater under the conifer canopy of its Kitsap Forest Theater every spring and summer. Gail has been involved in the theater since the 1990s. Besides acting onstage she has experience wearing many hats as a music director, stage manager, costumer and other various jobs.
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Her husband and daughter (who started when she was 6 and participated each year until she went to college) have also been involved on stage and off. What an amazing way to make family memories. Gail started acting in high school plays, then college and beyond and earned a degree in voice, so you can say musicals are sort of her thing.

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I asked her why she chose a theater like Kitsap, since we DO live in the Northwest and have more than a few rain drops in their open air design. She said with her usual smile, “A friend invited me for the first time in 1990 and I became hooked by the beautiful location. I also like that it is a volunteer organization, so the people who participate really want to be there. The actors can either stay in a dorm during the weekends of the rehearsals and shows, or they can bring their tent and camp out. There is a lodge where meals are available and people can warm up near the fireplace, play games or just sit around and talk. After dark, there is a fire circle where we can gather to roast marshmallows and sing songs.” Sounds like the camps we all loved as kids!

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She told me about their favorite part of the Kitsap Theatre. “I have always enjoyed camping and the outdoors, so a chance to be outside while singing and acting fits perfectly. That combined with doing it as a family makes it the best of all worlds. There are also other families who participate; it is great to see the young ones grow up and learn together as part of a special community that supports all ages. The property is purposely kept rather rustic so even though we are not far from town, it feels like a whole different world.”

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Gail as been involved with 26 plays with the Mountaineer Players both on stage and off. The group only performs two shows a year and the next one is “The Little Mermaid” that Gail will be volunteering at. Check out the dates here and make the Kitsap Forest Theater Apart of Your World this season!
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One of our other designers, Bridget Shew, went to see Gail in the Music Man and here is her review of the visit:

“Totally amazing, you don’t know what you are missing until you go.  The open air theater is situated on a large acreage that is the last old growth in the Kitsap Peninsula.  Rare beauty and atmosphere.  We got rained on during the show.  They don’t stop the production at all if it rains they keep acting and tromping through mud since the stage is just hard packed earth.

Guests hike to the natural Amphitheater, down a steep hill with several switchbacks but it is so worth it!  The production of The Music Man was fun and the actors were super friendly.  We even got to go back stage to see how very rustic and natural the atmosphere is after the show.  The theater has been producing plays and musicals since the 1920s with only a break during WW2.”

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Gail Foster and Bridget Shew – two of our amazing designers!