Foreigner opens tomorrow!

ICCT - The Iowa City Community Theatre production of The Foreigner by Larry Shue opens Friday night at the Johnson County Fairgrounds performance space. The director of the show is Gerry Roe, who has directed a number of shows for both ICCT and Dreamwell Theatre.

A staple of community theaters all over the country, The Foreigner is an inspired comic romp. It enjoyed a sold-out premiere in Milwaukee before moving on in 1984 to a long run Off-Broadway where it received two Obie Awards and two Outer Critics Circle Awards as Best New American Play and Best Off-Broadway Production. The Foreigner is set in a fishing lodge in rural Georgia often visited by "Froggy" LeSeuer, a British demolitions expert who occasionally runs training sessions at a nearby army base. Accompanying “Froggy” on this visit is his friend, a pathologically shy young proofreader named Charlie who is overcome with fear at the thought of making conversation with strangers. To allow Charlie the peace and quiet he seems to need, “Froggy” announces that Charlie, a native of an unnamed foreign country, speaks no English. Believing that Charlie doesn't understand a word they say, everyone at the lodge reveals far more of themselves than they intend. Charlie’s disguise as a foreigner allows him to expose the “bad guys” and, as Shue said of the play, “make everything turn out all right for the good guys.”

This is the second time ICCT has produced The Foreigner. It was first done in 1987. More recently, the Mount Vernon/Lisbon Community Theatre as well as Mount Mercy College produced the show last year.

Cast:
Betty Meeks - Evie Stanske
Froggy - Kenneth Van Egdon
Charlie Baker - Scot Hughes
Ellard Simms - Lane Hanon
Catherine Simms - Erin Mills
Owen Musser - Glenn Singer
Rev. David Marshall Lee - Tim Demuth