“[Theater] is the way I get through every day, and it’s the reason I want to get through every day,” said David Logghe, junior theater major.

Logghe has been cast as the lead role, Theo Maske, in the upcoming EWU Theatre production of Steve Martin’s comedic farce “The Underpants,” which premiers Nov. 9 at 7:30 p.m.

Logghe, who is a first-year transfer student, took the EWU Theatre department by storm during the September auditions for “The Underpants.”

Director and associate professor of theatre Sara Goff first met Logghe last year as a prospective student. “His interest and passion [were] just leaping out of him,” she said. “[He’s] very concentrated, he’s mature. He does have a lot of talent.”

She described how Logghe’s personality played into the cast selection process.

“I saw versatility and bravery. He has this chameleon-like quality. In any play I directed there might be a place for him,” she said. “[He’s] making very strong choices. He’s putting the paint on the canvas, and I don’t have to say, ‘Is there paint on that canvas? What color is it? No, it’s purple, it’s pink, it’s [right there]. Bold choices.’”

“Getting new students, you never know how it’s going to be,” said Teko Dumoulin, a junior theater major who works primarily as a theater technician. “It’s always touch and go, … especially when Sara [Goff] casts them in lead parts.”

“With Dave, [what he brings is] always different. His dedication is outstanding, [as are] the lengths he’s willing to go to,” Dumoulin said. “It’s clear that both [he and actress Nicki Meyer, who is also a new student] have no trouble fitting in.”

Blaine Nicholls, who was cast as the supporting character Frank, agreed. “The best thing about Dave is he has a lot of energy,” he said. “He gives me a lot to work with as an actor.”

Nicholls and Logghe auditioned together and started connecting right away. “Immediately there was so much back and forth, and that was a lot of fun,” said Nicholls. “He had so much to play off of. Dave has these moments where he adds something you wouldn’t see in the script necessarily, but he sees it.”

“If something goes wrong, Dave is always cool and collected, and fixes it without it being obvious,” he said. “Dave has already shown multiple times that he can fix that problem while staying in character. That’s something I really respect about him.”

It is clear that many in the theater department have a lot of admiration for Logghe, but he takes it one day at a time.

“There’s always that challenge to keep it fresh every day. That’s probably my biggest goal,” said Logghe. “To not fall into a comfortable pattern, where I’m acting out of memory and not actually in the moment of the show.”

Logghe, who got his Associate of  Arts degree at Whatcom Community College, has already acted in over 30 plays. This wealth of acting and performing experience has helped him in his transition to Eastern’s stage.

“I had a lot of pressure on myself [for this audition],” he said. “In my town, I had built my own reputation. … Here, I’m new. I had to make sure that I had the audition as well as I could.”

The audition process, according to Logghe, took an unexpected turn for him. He originally auditioned for the part of Coen, one of the supporting characters, but was then called back for Theo, the lead role.

“It was funny to get that curveball,” he said. “It was like, ‘Oh shoot, I didn’t read any of the Theo parts.’”

Logghe spoke about his attraction to the theater. “Theater scratches a whole lot of itches for me,” he said.  “When you’re finding out who a character is, that’s so enjoyable. [Finding] out little things that you wouldn’t think of, like, ‘Oh, he would totally do this. He would slam the door like this.’”

Logghe explained that he initially considered pursuing a major in psychology in order to help him better prepare his characters. “That’s the thing I love about acting: I get to be somebody I would never be in real life. Stepping into the shoes of someone I’m never going to be is very interesting to me. That’s what’s fun about playing characters like Theo,” he said.

Another thing Logghe enjoys about theater is that it helps with frustration. “It’s one of the best vents in the world,” he said. “If you’re frustrated about something you can put that into a character. If you’re nervous about something, you can get that out too. It’s a cleansing process, at times. Everybody’s got their vent.”

Goff said she likes performers who enjoy the art of theater as a whole, rather than those who only care about their own role. “You want to work with [Logghe] because he’s fun, he’s open, he has really good people skills,” she said. “He’s the guy who’s going to come in at 5 p.m. and run lines with a fellow actor, just be a team player. That’s who you want to be in the room with at the end of the day.”

“Everybody uses … their chosen form to push on and get through their day,” said Logghe. “My day is I get up, I go to the theater, I take classes, I go to my dorm, eat [and] I go back to the theater and rehearse. I cannot imagine a better day.”