Ohio Northern University - Northern Yearbook (Ada, OH)

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Director And Set Designer From New York Encourage Theatre Department As Small Town University Gets Caught Up In Big City Production In the winter theatre production, everyone really did get caught up in Lany Shue ' s brilliant comedy, The Foreigner. With its continuing ef¬ fort for innovative theatre, CNLJ asked New York theatre artist James Cochrane to direct the play. The theatre department also brought back CNU graduate, Paul Weimer, to work in conjunction with James Cochrane, director, and Stan Moore, lighting designer, as scene designer. Also included in the massive talent of this production were Fredrica Lawlor as producer and costume designer and Nils Ress as production consultant. Tte play took place at Betty Meeks’ (played by Helen R Davis) fishing lodge in Tilghman County, Georgia. As act one opened, Froggy Le Sueur and Charlie Baker (played by Douglas Tilden and James Leagre, respectively) arrived in Georgia from England. Charlie, in a quandry about his shyness around people, conspired with Froggy to pretend he was a foreigner who didn ' t speak English. Tbe laughter ensued as Catherine Sims (played by Kara Maxson), her brother Ellard Srrrns (played by Keith Searcy), and Betty Meeks are captured by Charlie ' s charm. Soon, after his in¬ stant popularity, Charlie was con¬ fronted by Catherine ' s future hus¬ band, Reverand David Marshall Lee (played by Dale Lakes) and Owen Musser (played by David Florence). Behind the point of this confronta¬ tion was the Kj Klux Klan of which Reverand Lee and Owen Musser were founding members. It may have been an intriguing plot with a foreigner who pretend¬ ed not to speak Engish, the Kj KLk K lan, and a fishing lodge full of unsu¬ specting residents but, it provided the audience with numerous laughs as the mysterious plot thickened. Li the final scene, with the threat of the Ku KLrx Klan at the door, Charlie conspired with Catherine, Ellard, and Betty to overthrow the fool- hearted Reverand Lee, Owen Musser, and other Klansmen (played by Lisa Gibson, Susan Seeley, and Lynne Miller). The play ended in the old-fashioned way as the good guys won out over the Ikes of the Klansmen. With excellent production, direc¬ tion, designing, and acting, the four night run of The Foreigner turned out to be a large success for the partici¬ pants, the audience, the theatre department, and Ohio Northern as it was proved that a small town uni¬ versity could get caught up in the excitement of a big city production. Being ' The Foreigner , who has learned Eng¬ ish, Charlie has an obligation to give his friends a lesson in his own language. V Me Froggy, played by Doug Tilden, oonvinces his friend, Charlie, to stay at the quiet inn, he also, in a later scene, scares the infamous Klansmen by blowing up their van. Charlie, played by James R. Leagre, finally confronts the Klansmen and gives them a taste of their own medicine. 29 j