Larry Shue’s “The Foreigner” is the upcoming March offering from Mask & Mirror Community Theatre. The comedy, directed by Rick Hoover, will run March 3-19 on the Main Stage at Rise Church, 10445 SW Canterbury Lane, Tigard. Performance times are 7:30 pm Friday and Saturday and 2:30 pm Sunday.
In a rural fishing lodge in Georgia, British demolitions expert Froggy LeSueur reassures his pathologically shy friend Charlie Baker, who is terrified at maybe having to converse with strangers, by telling lodge owner Betty Meeks that Charlie is from an exotic foreign country and neither speaks nor understands English. Froggy then departs for three days, leaving Charlie to fend for himself at the lodge. Conversations subsequently carry on as if the silently observant Charlie weren’t there at all, leading to hilarious results.
The cast features John Bartholomew as Staff Sergeant “Froggy” LeSueur, Jeff Ekdahl as Charlie Baker, Rebecca Rowland Hines as Betty Meeks, Ted Schroeder as Owen Musser, Sophia Caruso as Catherine Simms, Christopher Getel-Gilmartin as The Reverend David Marshall Lee, and Matthew Grand as Ellard Simms.
Director Hoover reveals he learned he was going to direct “The Foreigner” for Mask & Mirror when Covid hit and everything stopped cold, up-ending the theater’s entire season. He now admits, “In retrospect, I’m not unhappy that this happened because I have new talent who may not have been cast if I had begun pre-Covid. My amazing cast was drawn from a pool of many talented people who auditioned. Needless to say, casting was therefore very difficult.
“I know you will enjoy this comedy. I have added some very funny sight gags and silly bits of business for the cast to use. Working on this show has been a blast, and returning to the theater after such a long dry spell is enormously fulfilling. My biggest thrill, however, is going to be presenting ‘The Foreigner’ to the audience. Laughs will abound because this is just such a funny show. You don’t want to miss this one!”
Mask & Mirror Community Theatre is a 501(c)3 non-profit performing company. Additional information can be obtained by visiting maskandmirror.com.
