Celebrating Mr. Kline’s career at Bellevue High

David Kline. Photo by Ivy Green.

The average high school teacher stays at a single school for about seven years . However, Bellevue’s drama teacher, David Kline has spent more than 40 years at Bellevue. In honor of Kline’s remarkable career at Bellevue, which is concluding, we decided to highlight some of his favorite memories during his and hear from some students whose life he has profoundly shaped.

Kline’s journey at Bellevue started in 1986, and, contrary to popular belief, he was actually reluctant to take the job.

“At first I didn’t want to work with kids, because I thought they would be arrogant and bratty. However, when I worked with the students at Bellevue, I realized they were anything but that. The kids were driven, passionate and exceptionally talented.”

In 1988 Kline accepted an offer to become the school’s full time drama director, and he has never looked back since.

Among the countless shows Kline has organized, we asked him to reminisce on some of the most memorable over 40 years. One that immediately came to mind was the first time Bellevue’s drama program went to Scotland in 2013. Here, they performed the play “Return to the Forbidden Planet,” which is a British sci-fi musical. Performing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival  required the group to set up their stage and props, perform the show and tear down the stage and props all in under two hours.

“When we performed, we went through the entire process in an hour and 50 minutes. A recording circulated around YouTube and we became one of the most popular performances of the entire festival,” Kline remarks.

Another memorable show came when the group decided to perform the show “The Laramie Project,” which was a documentary play based on the hate crime killing of Matthew Sheppard, a gay college student in Laramie, Wyoming. Bellevue became one of the first high schools in the entire nation to perform the play. With this controversial show came genuine push back from certain groups.

“A religious group in Missouri protested and actually wrote us mail saying that they would fly over to Seattle, and protest in the auditorium during the play. They actually followed up on this promise, and came to Seattle, but were deterred from coming to play due to our rainy weather,” Kline said.

Throughout his career, Kline hasn’t just directed memorable shows, he has also had a profound impact on his students.

“I started theatre on a whim, randomly auditioning with my friend our freshman year for Dracula. When I was cast alone, I was sure I was going to quit. At our first rehearsal, Kline rushed to make me feel welcome. I have been in every show since,” says senior Caitlin Mochan.

You may be wondering what Kline will do with his free  time post retirement. For most, it may seem like the most obvious choice to enjoy a quiet retirement after so many years of teaching. Kline has a different view.

“After I retire, I plan to start writing plays again and go and experience theater in the real world. I want to get back to directing and pursuing drama like the years before I began teaching,”

For Kline, the ending of his career signals the start of another. As he put it, “Every closing night is exciting, because it means there's a chance for another opening night,” a philosophy that defines not only his career, but his entire approach on the stage.