PORT ANGELES — Charlie Baker, an introvert who’s far down in the dumps, is in for a wild ride.
So promises Curt White, the actor who recently discovered him in “The Foreigner,” the comedy opening tonight at the Port Angeles Community Playhouse.
In this tale, Charlie’s friend, Staff Sgt. Froggy LaSueur, whisks him off to a country inn in Georgia. There, in hopes of sheltering him from the other guests, Froggy, played by Zack Moorman, tells a whopper.
Charlie doesn’t speak English, Froggy announces.
With that, the folks in “The Foreigner” are off and running.
We have Catherine, the Southern princess-former-debutante played by Nikki Adams. She used to be a carefree teenager, but now she’s an heiress about to marry preacher David Marshall Lee (Ean Henninger). This has her about to come undone.
“When she finds Charlie, she finds someone she can confide in,” Adams says. “He can’t speak English, so she can tell him whatever she wants.”
Except Charlie can speak English. He’s British and a proofreader by trade. So he takes in a lot of shocking talk from the people at this inn. There’s Betty (Jayna Orchard), the widow who mothers her guests; Ellard Simms (Josh McLean), Catherine’s painfully shy brother and heir to half the family’s money; and Owen Musser (George Woods), a superstitious racist.
To this motley bunch, “Charlie has to decide how to respond,” says White. He grows fond of some of the people, and decides to play along, as it were.
“The people around [Charlie] help him find qualities in himself that he didn’t know were there,” White said. So this formerly sad sack’s life takes a turn for the better.
“I absolutely love the role,” added White, who’s been driving to the playhouse from his home in Forks. White is a member of the Rainforest Players, whose Rainforest Arts Center theater burned down in October.
“I had never heard of the play before,” White admitted. “It has captured my imagination.”
“The Foreigner,” written by Larry Shue, opened at New York City’s Astor Place Theater in November 1984, and proceeded to run for 686 performances.
It won two Obie Awards, among other prizes, and has enjoyed countless revivals since.
In Port Angeles, Ron Graham is directing the play’s three-week run. It’s an uplifting story, Adams says, adding that play-goers should plan on “laughing as hard as they possibly can.”
“The Foreigner” takes the stage at the Port Angeles Community Playhouse, 1235 E. Lauridsen Blvd., at 7:30 p.m. Fridays, Saturdays and Tuesdays from tonight through May 18; matinees start at 2 p.m. each Sunday through May 19. Tickets are $12 for adults and $6 for children and students, and available in advance at Odyssey Books, 114 W. Front St.
For Tuesday performances, discounted seats are possible, but only at the door. As with other shows, patrons can buy tickets for Tuesdays in advance for $12, and then any remaining seats will sell for $6 at the playhouse 30 minutes before curtain time.
For more details, phone the Port Angeles Community Players at 360-452-6651.
