Contra Costa Civic Theatre Continues 55th Anniversary Season with Comedy, The Foreigner, April 3-26

Contra Costa Civic Theatre (CCCT) continues its 55th season with one of the most popular American comedies, The Foreigner, directed by Ken Sonkin in his CCCT debut, from April 3-26, 2015. Performances will be Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm, and Sundays at 2pm at the theatre.

Winner of two Obie Awards, Best New American Play and Best Off-Broadway Production, and called "outrageously funny" by the Los Angeles Times, The Foreigner is an inspired comedy that celebrates our curiosity and empathy for "the outsider." Englishman Charlie Baker, self-proclaimed "world's dullest man," takes a vacation at a rural fishing lodge with his eccentric army buddy, Froggy LeSueur. Froggy concocts an incredible scheme to save Charlie from his pathologically shy self by introducing him as an exotic "foreigner" who can't speak English. It isn't long before Charlie's guileless persona backfires and the mix of good-hearted, slow-witted, and devious lodge guests share their deepest secrets and most sinister plans, including a lodge takeover by the KKK. What ensues is a series of hilarious and heartwarming revelations, which leads to the ultimate good guys vs. bad guys climax.

The cast includes Ryan O'Donnell as the "foreigner" Charlie Baker; Mike Reynolds as his Army buddy, Froggy LeSueur; Linda Paplow as Betty Meeks, the owner of the lodge; Monica Ammerman as heiress and former debutante Catherine Sims; Aaron Murphy as her dim-witted younger brother, Ellard Sims; Dan Saski as Rev. David Marshall Lee, Catherine's fiance; and Chad Yarish as the hilariously mean-spirited Owen Musser)

Director Ken Sonkin is an actor/director whose work has been seen at Bay Area theaters including American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.), Berkeley Rep, SF Playhouse, Marin Shakespeare Company, and Magic Theatre, as well as nationally at Denver Center Theatre, The Grove Shakespeare Festival (LA), Seacoast Rep (NH), and Pennsylvania Centre Stage. He holds a BFA in acting from Ohio State University and an MFA from A.C.T.

He was a member of A.C.T.'s acting company and core conservatory faculty and has taught and directed for Stanford University, Northwestern University, Cornell College, Solano College, and San Francisco Ballet School. He teaches acting, Personal Clown Technique, and Careers in Theater at the University of San Francisco. As a magician, Ken was voted the #1 Street Performer in San Francisco, been a regular performer at Hollywood's Magic Castle, has appeared in concert with Jay Leno, Red Skelton, Harry Anderson, Ellen DeGeneres, Donnie & Marie, and The Manhattan Transfer, been on A&E's Comedy on the Road, Moonlighting, Nash Bridges, The Late Show and various PBS programs. With his comedy magic/mime show, he has toured all over the world and performed for Queen Elizabeth II of England.

The production features set design by Robert "Bo" Golden, costume design by Lisa Danz, lighting design by Hamilton Guillén, and sound design by Michael Kelly.

Playwright Larry Shue's promising career as a comic playwright was cut short by his untimely death in a plane crash at the age of thirty-nine. Born July 23, 1946, in New Orleans, Louisiana, Shue grew up in Kansas and Illinois, displaying an early interest in theatre; as a ten-year-old, he would create plays in his family's garage and charge a penny for admission. After participating in high school dramatics, Shue attended Illinois Wesleyan University and graduated with a B.F.A. in theatre in 1968. As an undergraduate, Shue wrote two plays produced at Illinois Wesleyan, but he began his professional theatrical life as an actor. Shue was named Playwright in Residence for Milwaukee Rep in 1979 and his mature, full-length plays soon followed, including the two works for which he is best known-The Nerd (1981) and The Foreigner (1983)-as well as his more serious play, Wenceslas Square (1984). Shue's acting career also included a stint with the Berkeley Repertory Theatre, some brief appearances in films, and work on the well-known television soap opera "One Life to Live." Shue was among fourteen people who died in a commuter plane crash near Weyer's Cave, Virginia, on September 23, 1985. The plane crashed into Hall Mountain, killing everyone aboard, as the flight approached the Shenandoah Valley airport between Staunton and Harrisonburg. Many feel that had Shue lived longer he might have produced an even more impressive body of drama, both serious and comic. In a Chicago Tribune obituary, Richard Christiansen asserted that, at the time of his death, Shue's 'career was building to a level of international fame.'

Single tickets for The Foreigner are available online at www.ccct.org or by phone at 510.524.9132. Adult tickets are $22 in advance, or $28 at the door; youth tickets for ages 16 and under are $11 in advance, or $15 at the door. Discounts available for groups of 15 or more. All performances take place at CCCT's intimate and fully accessible theatre in the Flynn building located at 951 Pomona Avenue (cross street Moeser) in El Cerrito. Free parking is provided in the adjoining lot. For more information, visit www.ccct.org.

Contra Costa Civic Theatre, established in 1959 by Louis and Bettianne Flynn and a group of dedicated volunteers, is a non-profit community theatre with its permanent home in El Cerrito, CA. Our mission is t o provide affordable, high quality entertainment to residents throughout the East Bay and provide training in performing arts for children and adults. We are proud to be an independent, self-sufficient organization presenting five Main Stage and thirteen youth productions annually in our intimate two hundred seat theatre.

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