The Foreigner, by Larry Shue

Comedy in 2 acts

Publisher: Dramatists Play Service

Place and Time: "Betty Meeks' Fishing Lodge Resort, Tilghman County, Georgia, U.S.A.;" the recent past, spring

Persons of the Play:

S/Sgt. "FROGGY" LeSUEUR

M, "late forties, perhaps," British Army sergeant, "well-fed, flushed with the spirit of adventure"

CHARLIE BAKER

M, same age as "Froggy," also English, "standing in his forlorn trenchcoat, [he] seems quietly, somehow permanently, lost;" "I've sat behind my grey little proofreader's desk for twenty-seven years"

The rest of the characters are from rural Georgia:

BETTY MEEKS

F, "more than seventy... like, everyone, is wise about some things and naive about others"

REV. DAVID MARSHALL LEE

M, 20s-30s, "a friendly, open face... He seems rather to be a regular fella -- humorous, and open, it would appear, a good young man to have on our side."

CATHERINE SIMMS

F, 18 or 20, fiancee of David and pregnant by him when the action of the play begins, "formidable little figure... basilisk stare from her pretty face"

OWEN MUSSER

M, 20s-40s, "dank presence... Psychologists tell us to beware of a man with two tattoos. One, he may have gotten on a drunk or a dare. But two means he went back. Owen is a two-tattoo man. "

ELLARD SIMMS

M, Catherine's younger brother, "There doesn't, we must admit, seem to be much to Ellard. He is a lumpy, overgrown, backward youth, who spends much of his time kneading something tiny and invisible in front of his chest."

TOWNSPEOPLE: non-speaking

Set: "what was once the living-room of a log farmhouse, now adapted for service as a parlor for paying guests... a small counter with modest candy and tobacco displays, a guest register, and a bell... one sofa too many, a small stove and its woodbin;" a trap door is essential

Productions: Milwaukee Repertory Theater, January, 1983; Astor Place Theatre, New York, November, 1984

New York Cast:

• S/Sgt. "FROGGY" LeSUEUR: Larry Shue
• CHARLIE BAKER: Anthony Heald
• BETTY MEEKS: Sudie Bond
• REV. DAVID MARSHALL LEE: Robert Schenkkan
• CATHERINE SIMMS: Patricia Kalember
• OWEN MUSSER: Christopher Curry
• ELLARD SIMMS: Kevin Geer
• TOWNSPEOPLE: Chet Leaming, Donna Bullock, Richard Biederman, Mary Ann Dorward

Quoted material above is taken directly from the published text of the play.

A recording by L.A. Theatre Works featuring Johnny Galecki, Dina Waters, Joey Slotnick, and Paxton Whitehead is in print.