'Foreign' comedy on tap

Steven Roberts, a part-time theatre instructor at Eastern New Mexico University, calls himself a Larry Shue fan. The best way he can pay tribute, he feels, is to present one of Shue’s plays, “The Foreigner,” as the side-splitting work he’s always loved.

“You don’t really need to add anything to this play,” said Roberts, who is directing the show this weekend at ENMU.

Ryan Jason Cook, a 2005 ENMU graduate, returns as a guest actor to play the lead role of Charlie Baker in the performances tonight, Friday and Saturday at the University Theatre Center.

In the play, Baker goes fishing with his friend “Froggy” LeSeuer, (Travis Whelpley). Since Charlie is so shy, Froggy tells everyone that he is foreign and cannot speak English.

While Charlie is left alone, he overhears an evil plan from a minister, his fiancé and a redneck sidekick who think Charlie can’t understand them.
Shue, who wrote five plays, died in a 1985 plane crash. Roberts said.

“The Foreigner” and “The Nerd” are among his favorite plays and rank among the funniest in American literatary history.

“I can’t imagine what he would have left afterwards,” Roberts said. “These two plays are hilarious, almost line for line.”

Joining Cook and Whelpley on stage will be Robert Tucker as Owen, Tasha Irvin as Catherine, Amber Glasgow as Betty and Devin Fields as David.

“Casting is always 90 percent of the work, and I think we’ve cast it really, really well,” Roberts said. “The cast have custom-made the parts to themselves.”

What: "The Foreigner"

Where: Eastern New Mexico University Theatre Center

When: 7 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday

Tickets: $8 general admission, $7 senior citizen (55 and over), $6 pre-college student and, $5 with an ENMU student ID