Ramsdell Regional Center for the Arts Announces “The Foreigner” Comedy
The Ramsdell Regional Center for the Arts announces the opening of its production of Larry Shue’s knock-about comedy, “The Foreigner.” The play is directed by Rick Plummer and plays at the historic Ramsdell Theatre for one week only, on July 25 through the 28th, according to the Ramsdell executive director, Xavier Verna.
“This knee-slapping comedy is, as the cliché has it, ‘ripped from the headlines’ of today,” Plummer says. In it, Larry Shue takes a page from the Mel Brooks, Spike Lee, and Dave Chappelle playbook. The play takes comic aim at the ridiculousness of White Supremacy and racism, Plummer adds. Brooks pokes his finger in the eyes of racists in his classic comedy film, “Blazing Saddles,” in the same way Spike Lee does more recently in his Oscar-nominated film, “Black Klansman,” and Dave Chappelle has done in his hilarious Clayton Bigsby, the blind Black, White Supremacist skit.
“The Foreigner,” as in all of these other parodies, lampoons the irrational hate of America’s oldest and most infamous hate groups—the KKK. Brooks made a career of poking fun at horrible things, and sets out, as he says, “to cut Hitler and racists down to size and rob them of their power through laughter.”
Plummer cites the noted 18th-century author and man of letters, Horace Walpole, who created the oft-quoted epigram: “The world is a comedy to those who think and a tragedy to those who feel.” Plummer says that “The Foreigner” audiences will feel sheer joy and think about the stupidity of racism.
The play is set in a rural Georgia fishing lodge where a British soldier and his shy, retiring friend land for a week or so. The friend seeks much-needed peace and quiet, and in an attempt to avoid conversation, he poses as a non-English-speaking “Foreigner.” Hilarity ensues when he runs afoul of a nefarious group of backwoods dimwits.
“The Foreigner” has become a staple of professional and amateur community theatre around the country, Verna adds. “The Foreigner” earned two Obie Awards & two Outer Critics Circle Awards as Best New American Play & Best Off-Broadway Production.
“This is one of the most talented casts I’ve ever had the pleasure of directing,” says Plummer. It is headed up by Michael Ray as Froggy LeSueur, the cheerful Cockney demolition expert on assignment at an American Army installation in Georgia.
Accompanying Froggy is his forlorn pal, Charlie Baker, played by Sean Gilbert. Charlie is a pathologically shy little man who has a very unfaithful wife, no personality that he can think of, and who seeks refuge from any human contact.
Christine Plummer will be seen as Betty Meeks, the proprietor of the Georgia fishing lodge where Froggy and Charlie are staying while Froggy is on assignment. A widow and a long-time friend of Froggy, she is a good-hearted, generous, “down-home” Southerner who speaks the hardy local dialect.
Reverend David Marshall Lee is played by John Jarrad Klapko. Neither the stereotypical pallid young divinity student nor the hearty backslapping evangelist, he appears to be a regular guy, one that you would like to have on your side. He is not what he seems, however, as audiences will discover as the play unfolds.
Kali Findley plays Catherine Simms, the attractive, rich, debutante fiancée of the Reverend Lee. She has a ready wit and a sharp tongue, and is badly in need of someone to talk to, and, since Charlie doesn’t bother giving advice, he suits her needs perfectly.
Owen Musser is played by Charles Dillon. Owen is the Tilghman County property inspector and a thoroughly disreputable human being. Owen and the Reverend Lee are cooking up a plot to condemn Betty’s lodge so that it can be bought for their own evil purposes. Owen, we find, is the absolute stereotype of an ill-bred southern, Redneck. He is crude, vulgar, volatile, ignorant, and a perfect Neanderthal.
Jordan Sell will be seen as Ellard Simms, Catherine’s seemingly slow-witted brother. He works as a sort of handyman for Betty and needs a considerable bit of instruction in his tasks, but he may not be as dull as he seems. He is due to inherit a share of the Simms’ family fortune unless the Reverend Lee can convince Catherine that Ellard is too stupid to manage money, or anything else, on his own. Ellard befriends Charlie and even decides to teach him to speak English. Ellard is insecure, good-natured, and ultimately courageous.
Josh Leffew, Fred Sundbeck, and Rick Hudson round out the cast as Tilghman County Townspeople who are discovered to be members of a secret southern society.
Plummer adds that supporting the cast is an equally talented group of theater artists, including Mara Davidson as the production stage manager, Mik Mikula as the scenic designer, Susan Barnard as the costume designer, Marty Yaple is the sound designer, Amanda Collene as the lighting designer, and Marty Cupp as a scene painter. Xavier Verna is the producer.
A portion of this show is supported in part by a grant received by the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs and the National Endowment for the Arts.
“The Foreigner” plays Thursday-Saturday, July 25-27 at 7:30 pm and Sunday, July 28 at 2 pm. Tickets for “The Foreigner” are available online. Visit www.RamsdellTheatre.org or call MyNorthTickets at 1(800) 836-0717.
