Warren's 2nd Story Theatre just may have come up with the best play of the summer. Its current run of "The Foreigner," Larry Shue's uproarious 1983 comedy about a shy man who poses as a foreigner so he won't have to talk with people, is a winner, a sparkling farce that is sure to leave you laughing.

Pat Hegnauer, co-founder of 2nd Story, and artistic director Ed Shea have done a marvelous job directing this madcap comedy. It's a show in which everything clicks.

And the cast is terrific, too, beginning with Dante Sciarra as Charlie, the painfully withdrawn Brit, who just happens to end up in a down-at-the-heels hunting lodge in the backwoods of Georgia. It is his buddy Froggy, played by Tom Oakes, who tells the folks running the lodge that Charlie doesn't speak a word of English because he's a foreigner.

And that enables Charlie to be under foot as Owen and David, two white supremacists, hatch a plan to turn the lodge into headquarters for the Klan. It's up to Charlie to save the day.

But along the way, there are some priceless moments as Elizabeth Hallenbeck's Betty tries to communicate with Charlie, who pretends to know just two words of English: "Thank you."

Although Sciarra doesn't have a lot to say over the course of the evening, he speaks volumes with his facial expressions, with subtle gestures. At one point, he acts out a little skit in his "native" tongue using a dish towel on his head to assume different characters. It's just one of the many zany moments in this production.

Shue's career as a playwright was just starting to take off in the 1980s, about the time "The Foreigner" was written. He had been an actor for years, and appeared on the long-running soap opera, "One Life to Live."

But tragically, his life was cut short by a commuter plane crash in 1985. He was 39 when he died.

One can only imagine what Shue would have produced had he lived, for "The Foreigner" is a brilliant piece of writing. It's the complete comedy, with some funny gags about scrambled eggs, and quirky characters like Dillon Medina's dim-witted Ellard, who thinks he's teaching Charlie English. And Joe Henderson is an absolute brute as Owen, the Klansman who has designs on the lodge.

In other roles, Ara Bohigian is the unctuous David who is in cahoots with Owen, and just wants to marry Erin Olsen's Catherine to get her inheritance.

This is one of those productions in which everything seems to come together seamlessly -- excellent writing, fine ensemble work from the actors and sure-footed direction. Shows like this don't come along all that often, so catch this one while it's around.

The Foreigner, by Larry Shue, holds a special place in the muscle memory of my smiles and in my fond recollections of the early days of 2nd Story Theatre, which is staging it through September 5. It was there that I first saw this knee-slapping farce, in the mid-'80s. Pat Hegnauer was directing Ed Shea as Charlie, a shy British visitor to the States who is pretending to be a non-English-speaking foreigner so he can get some peace and quiet.

Shea, 2nd Story's artistic director, is co-directing the play with Hegnauer, his co-founder of the theater, apparently hoping to re-create the hilarious magic of the early production. Done. This take didn't bring back the tears of helpless laughter that the two extracted back when I was young and giddy, but my frequent mirthful outbursts were an appreciated replay.

Charlie this time around is played by Dante Sciarra, who many of you might recall from his days as a regular at Theater By the Sea. He brings to Charlie not Shea's minimalist, dazed underplaying but rather a sly, knowing silliness as the hitherto staid Brit gleefully puts on the yokels.

Charlie's offstage wife finds him "shatteringly boring," and she's consequently been known to host male guests in their shower. Wanting a restful three-day vacation, he is brought to a fishing lodge in rural Georgia by his friend Froggy LeSeur (Tom Oakes), who knows the friendly owner, Betty Meeks (Elizabeth Hallenbeck). She has never seen a real live foreigner, not in the flesh. Froggy fabricates a reason for the painfully shy Charlie to not talk to people, telling Betty that he is terribly self-conscious about not being able to speak English.

Playwright Shue learned in Japan that some cultures will forgive any blunder committed by a foreigner. Cleverly, he provides an additional reason for Charlie to keep up the pretense: people begin spilling secrets when they talk in his presence and they wouldn't take kindly to knowing he was eavesdropping, especially a couple of men who seem dangerous. One of them is an always-angry cracker named Owen Musser (Joe Henderson). His partner in slime is the ostensibly haloed Rev. David Lee (Ara Bohigian), who is about to marry the wealthy Catherine Simms (Erin Olson), a young woman he has diligently gotten pregnant. A debutante only a year before, reading in the newspaper about this year's coming-out party, Catherine wails that the poor dears don't know there's no going back in. Her simpleminded brother Ellard (Dillon Medina) fills out the cast.

The villainy stands in delicious contrast to the amiable goodness at hand. Evil Owen is the county building inspector, so he and David are working on getting Betty's lodge condemned so they can buy it for a song. David is also scheming to convince Catherine that her brother is too dimwitted to handle the half-million dollar inheritance she is authorized to give him. At one point he tells Ellard to bring a carrot up to his sister, which he does, after which David insists he said "candle." So it's all the more fun when Ellard starts "teaching" English words to Charlie. Pointing to a lamp, he makes sure his pupil notices that it's two syllables: "lay-ump." Charlie enjoys playing along. After two days he is speaking entire stilted sentences and pidgin paragraphs, as well as reading Shakespearean sonnets. What a talented teacher, all have to admit, as David grinds his teeth.

Sciarra seems to be enjoying the situational surrealism as much as Charlie, whether letting Betty believe that a glass on his head at breakfast (don't ask) is part of his native tradition, or doing an old-country chicken dance of joy.

The arc of the play culminates in Charlie's rainbow's-end delight at having come out of his self-constructed shell. "Froggie!" he exclaims toward the end, "I think I'm acquiring a personality!" Sciarra accomplishes this beautifully - and uproariously when he is supposedly telling an animated story in his native language, using a dish towel for the babushka of an old lady and the braids of the young girl. Picture that and you get an idea of the fun to be had in this wonderful production.

The thing about being a foreigner - or a gai-jin as they're called in Japan where I lived - is that your confused looks, butchered language and minor faux pas often seem cute to the natives. Studying in Japan in 1980 is what influenced the late playwright Larry Shue to pen his wildly humorous play, "The Foreign-er," now playing at 2nd Story Theatre in War-ren through Sept. 5. Shue found that the Japan-ese accepted his bizarre behavior with good humor, much like the play's painfully shy British protagonist, Charlie (Dante Sciarra).

Co-director Ed Shea introduced the play simply, "Try to summon your inner child, because this is children's theater for adults."

And that's exactly what it is - a wonderfully hysterical story that's anything but serious. It begins when Froggy (Tom Oakes) takes his fel-low Briton Charlie to a fishing lodge in Geor-gia to escape the latter's dissolving marriage.

But Charlie, who's socially awkward and inse-cure, refuses to speak to anyone while he's there. So Froggy tells the kind, affable lodge owner Betty (Elizabeth Hallenbeck) that Char-lie is a foreigner who can't speak English.

At first Charlie opposes the ruse and plans to tell the truth, but he continues to play the charming foreigner when lodge guests spill their secrets to his presumably uncompre-hending ear, particularly Catherine (Erin Olson), an heiress impregnated and engaged to David (Ara Bohigian), a shady preacher.

Catherine's simple, Forrest Gump-like younger brother Ellard (Dillon Medina), who's considered too dumb to receive his portion of inheritance, humorously bonds with Charlie when they mimic each other over breakfast.

Ellard, in his endearing Southern accent "teaches" Charlie to speak broken English and read Shakespeare in just two days by showing him objects such as a fork, which he instructs has two syllables, "fo-ark," and lamp, which is "la-ump." It's Charlie and Ellard's bond that completely tickles the audience for huge belly laughs.

Soon, Charlie communicates like an adorable Balki Bartokomous of "Perfect Strangers" and the whole lodge dotes on him - save for David and his brute, KKK-connect-ed sidekick Owen (Joe Henderson). Charlie finally has a personality and feels so complete with his new family that the raconteur puts his dramatic skills to the test in an uproarious-ly fun showdown with the Klan.

The show's strong, talented ensemble nails its comedic timing. As Charlie, Sciarra is per-fect as the confused, lovable foreigner. And even though he's fooling the family with his strange Russian-sounding language and chop-py English, you wholeheartedly root for the bloke. Hallenbeck plays Betty as an adorable, Southern woman with a spot-on sing-songy dialect that effortlessly milks every laugh.

Medina is enormously funny as Ellard with his buzz cut and boyish shirts. Clocking in around two hours with an inter-mission, "The Foreigner" ended with a satisfy-ing oomph. The delightful play leaves you thinking that if you kindly embrace foreign-ers, foibles and all, you too will be embraced for your imperfections. It might be children's theater for adults, but it's a pill we could all gulp between chuckles.

I remember Johnston's own Dante Sciarra for the many outstanding roles he played in past Theatre-by-the-Sea productions, and wondered what ever happened to him.

Well, Sciarra's back, and in fine form, starring in 2nd Story Theatre's hilarious "The Foreigner" by Larry Shue.

If you want to laugh and laugh, and then laugh some more, go see this lighthearted, hilarious production.

Sciarra plays Charlie, a shy, introverted man who just wants to be left alone. His wife has had affairs with 28 men, and now lies dying in the hospital.

His friend Froggy (Tom Oakes) has brought him from London to a Georgia fishing lodge filled with rednecks, people who are not who they pretend to be, and some nice, naive folks as well.

To grant Charlie his privacy, Froggy tells Betty, the proprietor (A very funny Elizabeth Hallenbeck) that Charlie doesn't understand a word of English.

What follows is some of the funniest farce you will ever see. It is non-stop laughter with some messages and a few surprises thrown in.

I saw this play performed by an amateur group, and it was horrendous. It's success depends on perfect comic timing and reactions. The 2nd story cast, thanks to some terrific direction by Pat Hegnauer and Ed Shea, has the timing down perfect.

Sciarra is sensational. Just watching his facial expressions and reactions to what is going on around him are reasons enough to see this play.

People reveal their innermost secrets to him, while others make fun of him, put him done, and scream racial remarks at him. He smiles, says "Thank you", and plots to put them in their proper places.

An equally great performance is given by Dillon Medina as Ellard, a "slow" young man who is not as dumb as he appears. The scenes between Medina and Sciarra are classics, as he teaches Charlie the southern version of the English language. Believe me, you will be in stitches.

The ensemble cast works perfectly together, all having their moments.

Ara Bohigian as the Rev. David is about to marry Catherine (Erin Olsen) for devious reasons which are reveled in the second act. And then there's Owen (Joe Henderson) the guy you'll love to hate. Look up "redneck" in the dictionary and you'll see his picture. He is a KKK guy who has designs for the fishing lodge, but gets what he deserves by Charlie in a rollicking and satisfying conclusion to one of the funniest productions of the year.

Fans of underdog stories will relish the comedy "The Foreigner," now on stage at 2nd Story Theatre.

This is a tale not of just one underdog but four who come together - almost inadvertently - to hoodwink the bad guy, with plenty of laughs along the way. The play is more than a little silly, but 2nd Story's production builds on the silliness so that by the second act, you're willingly in the grip of the nuttiness.

The play is set at a fishing lodge in rural Georgia where two Brits have arrived together but for different reasons. Sgt. Froggy LeSueur is an annual visitor; he stays at the lodge when invited to run explosives training at a nearby Army base. Charlie Baker is his self-described boring friend who needs a quiet place to cope with his troubles, which center on his shamelessly promiscuous wife.

Charlie is shy, tosay nothing of morose, and doesn't want to talk to any fellow lodgers. So Froggy comes up with a plan; he introduces Charlie as a foreigner who doesn't speak English.

Because everyone thinks Charlie doesn't understand, they'll say anything in front of him, and before long he knows a lot of personal secrets and has observed a nefarious plot being hatched by a supposedly pious reverend in cahoots with a blatantly racist local official.

At the same time, Charlie has made friends with lodge owner Betty Meeks who is comically attracted by his "foreignness"; heiress Catherine Simms, who appreciates his listening skills; and Ellard, a simple-minded young man who thinks he's teaching Charlie English.

They, in turn, have made Charlie feel less boring, and together they become the ultimate motley crew who foil the phonies.

Rhode Island theater veteran Dante Sciarra plays the pitiful Charlie, and while his shtick seemed too goofy at first, characters and events caught up in the second act and you had to laugh.

Tom Oakes uses to his advantage a straightforward portrayal of Froggy, the chipper Brit with the French name, so that his big scene in act two was delightful

Elizabeth Hallenbeck was right on the mark as the good-hearted but woefully naïve Betty Meeks. She is the kind of person who thinks if she speaks loudly enough, it will make up for the foreigner's lack of understanding.

Joe Henderson was absolutely dastardly as the racist Owen Musser, the local property inspector. The polemic he unleashes on the "foreigner" could have come from the nasty side of the current immigration debate, although the play debuted 27 years ago.

Ara Bohigian took a page out of the televangelist handbookfor his role as the slick Rev. David Lee, doing good deeds with ulterior motives.

Erin Olson was a multi-faceted Catherine Simms. Engaged to the Rev. Lee, she wanted to believe in his goodness, but at the same time could toss off a sarcastic comment with perfect timing.

But it was Dillon Medina as the simple Ellard who is still making me laugh. Although he is a 2nd Story regular, he was almost unrecognizable with his buzz-cut hair and wide-eyed innocence.

His English "lessons" and the way he figured into the plan against the reverend and the racist were hysterical.

Events in the second act pick up, and the glee the four underdogs share in their success makes you cheer.

Director Ed Shea introduced the play as "children's theater for adults," and that could be a warning to some, enticement to others.

But in the end, everyone will be laughing.

The second show of 2nd Story's summer season is Larry Shue's delightful farce, "The Foreigner". The show takes place in the early 1980's and is in a fishing lodge resort in rural Georgia where Froggy LeSueur, a British demolition expert occasionally runs training sessions at a nearby airbase. This time Froggy brings along a friend, Charlie Baker who is pathologically shy and is overcome with fear at the thought of meeting strangers due to the fact his wife continually berates him for being "Boring" because he is a proofreader for a science fiction magazine. So Froggy creates a perfect ruse and tells Betty Meeks, the owner of the lodge that Charlie is from an exotic foreign country who doesn't understand a word of English. This is to cheer Betty up because her place might be condemned. Once Froggy leaves, the visiting guests some good and some not so good, freely reveal their secrets in front of the "foreigner''.Through his careful disguise, Charlie discovers that a plot is afoot and becomes the hero of the day, foiling the evil doers' plan in a side-splitting rescue effort, overcoming his shyness and helping to change his and three other peoples lives for the better. Director Ed Shea picks the best 7 performers for these roles in this madcap comic romp. The made up foreign language spoken by Charlie is hilarious and to quote him "Blasni, Blasni" which in his language means bravo, bravo for a job well done.

Ed brings out the comic moments beautifully and gives each of his performers a chance to shine in their roles with each role being a character role in this show. The British and southern accents are topnotch, too. This cast is lead by Dante Sciarra and his portrayal of Charlie Baker is splendid with fantastic facial expressions and wonderful line deliveries in an English accent and in his made up foreign language. Blit is no and gock is yes. Charlie who is a proof reader for a science fiction magazine, feels boring and inadequate due to his wife's 23 affairs but his time in Georgia helps him to overcome his doubts, becoming a hero, too. Dante's interactions with the other characters is wonderful as he helps a dimwitted boy win his inheritance, brings adventure to an old lady stuck in this backwards town, helps a pregnant woman escape the clutches of her boyfriend, taunts her beau and his redneck pal with secret insults in his hidden tongue and one of the biggest laughs comes when he tells David and Owen it want to give it to them. The little red riding hood tale Charlie tells has to be seen and heard to be fully enjoyed. Dante is a superb dancer and choreographer and in this role gets to dance crazily while hurling incantations to frighten the hoodlums. Blasni on Dante's topnotch portrayal. Dante also appeared in many productions at Theatre by the Sea.

Charlie's chum, Froggy is well played by Tom Oakes. He makes this bombastic, heavy drinking British soldier come to life. Tom shows his exasperation at trying to get Charlie to be more sociable, does a turn on a dime when he concocts the foreigner story to help bolster Betty up due to her problems at the lodge. Froggy can hardly believe that Charlie has fooled all the people with his shenanigans but readily supplies the needed turn of events to make Charlie and his three new friends very happy. I last reviewed Tom in "The Voysey Inheritance" earlier this year. Elizabeth Hallenbeck is very comical as Betty Meeks. She misconstrues almost everything Charlie says to her including forcing him to keep a glass on his head during breakfast, thinking there is a tractor in his red riding hood story and wanting her to play her harmonica. Betty constantly yells at him as if he is deaf which is hilarious. Elizabeth handles her many lines with ease. I last reviewed her in "To Kill a Mockingbird". Erin Olson plays Catherine Simms, a former debutante whose father has left her a huge inheritance. She is bitchy and unhappy during the first act due to her being pregnant but mellows out in the second act due to Charlie's sympathetic and understanding nature, becoming enamored of him. Erin adds depth to this role and handles the transition beautifully. Her dimwitted brother, Ellard is excellently played by Dillon Medina. He steals many scenes in this show. He is clad in jeans and has crew cut hair. Ellard turns out to be smarter than anyone thinks especially when he finds a croquet mallet and acts like King Buddy who Charlie made up to be a hero. A laugh out loud moment comes when he presses his face against the glass on the front door when he first meets Charlie. Dillon's eating and teaching scenes with Dante are hysterical when they eat eggs, drop glasses on the floor and especially when he teaches Charlie how to identify objects inside and outside by their Southern English definitions. Some of the table antics are reminiscent of the Marx Brothers. I reviewed Dillon earlier this year in "The Underpants" and in "Comic Potential" which he did a superior job in.

Ara Bohigian who has matinee idol looks plays David who is a minister engaged to Catherine. However things seem to be too good to be true and as Charlie witnesses the exchange between David and Owen, he discovers their true motives toward Betty, Catherine and Ellard. Ara's acting is wonderful as this smarmy character and the audience enjoys when David get his comeuppance for his behavior. He shows off his temper a couple of times as this supposed mild mannered man of the Lord. Ara played Hugh in "The Voysey Inheritance". Last but not least is Joe Henderson. He plays Owen Musser who is one of the nastiest villains in this show as he takes advantage of an old lady and tries to kill Charlie because he is a foreigner. Joe spouts awful racist dialogue at Charlie and the others but the comic moments help to temper it as he gets the crap scared out of him. He has a goatee and a wife beater T-shirt. I haven't seen Joe since I directed him in "They're Playing Our Song" at the Newport Playhouse back in 1985. So for a trip back to Georgia in the 1980's be sure to catch "The Foreigner" at 2nd Story Theater. This fantastic farce wins a standing ovation as its reward.

Some 25 years ago a small comedy opened unobtrusively in an off-Broadway theater. It was called The Foreigner, written by actor Larry Shue, and it quickly caught on with audiences, running some 686 performances before becoming a favorite with regional and community theaters. The New York Times described it as "... a romantic comedy with enough warmth and truth in it that it is not only funny, but also often moving."

Shue's promising career was cut short during the play's initial run when he died in a plane crash. His legacy turns out to be this delightful farce, which the 2nd Story Theatre is presenting through September 5 under the direction of Ed Shea.

Central to Shue's play is his lead character - the painfully shy and socially inept Charlie who retreats to a fishing cabin in Georgia to escape his unhappy marriage in England. Since he is unwilling to meet new people, his buddy Froggy creates a perfect ruse: to pretend that Charlie is a foreigner who doesn't understand a word of English. Once Froggy leaves, the visiting guests (some good, some not so good) freely reveal their secrets in front of the 'foreigner'. Through his careful disguise, Charlie discovers that a plot is afoot and becomes the hero of the day, foiling the evildoers' plan in a side-splitting rescue effort.

The cast features Liz Hallenbeck, Tom Oakes (Froggy), Dante Sciarra (Charlie), Ara Bohigian, Erin Olson, Dillon Medina, and Joe Henderson.

"It's one of the funniest plays ever written," said Shea. "Audiences love this play. It's essentially children's theater for adults."

Shea compares The Foreigner to a fairy tale, noting Charlie is a stranger in a strange place who winds up changing the lives of everyone else around him.

Shea has found that this staging of The Foreigner appeals to younger audiences as well.

"For me this is a perfect summer stock play," Shea noted. "It's highly entertaining, it doesn't require a whole lot of thought, it's kind of spoon-fed to you, you can sit back and enjoy it, and you leave with a little bit of a message."

2nd Story Theatre is winding up its summer season with an explosively funny production of Larry Shue's The Foreigner.

A staple of community theater the play tells of an extremely shy man who poses as someone who does not understand English as a way to avoid talking to people. Others,thinking he won't know what they're saying, plot their dastardly deeds in front of him while others use him as a silent listening post as they pour out their concerns.

That's it.

The Foreigner is a play that requires directors with great imaginations and actors who can go over the top while bringing their characters humanity with them. Luckily 2nd Story has both.

Pat Hegnauer and Ed Shea share the director's credit and a cast led by Dante Sciara provides the rest of the formula.

With Pat and Ed at the helm a breakfast turns into a scrambled egg version of the Marx Brothers doorway/mirror routine in which one person does exactly what the other does and there is a marvelous nod to The Wizard of Oz.

Sciara, as the title character, takes his role from someone who is perpetually ready to cry to a man who learns to relate to those around him, and save the day. He has a great time telling a story - in the supposed language of his home country - or casting a spell that scares the person on the receiving end. Larger than life? Of course. Way larger, But his Charlie remains a likeable - even perhaps loveable - creation.

Elizabeth Hallenbeck is a delight as the owner of the run down property that serves as the location. Betty is perfectly willing to accept anything this unusual visitor will do and actually believes he and she share a psychic connection. Ara Bohigian is the pleasant young man with unpleasant plans and Erin Olson is his innocent fiancée. Tom Oakes is solid as Dante's friend with the unfortunate name of Froggy. Dillon Medina is strong as a not-really-that-slow Ellard and Joe Henderson makes a really nasty villain who represents the bigotry that can lurk just beneath the surface.

Trevor Elliot has come up with a set that includes well-worn furniture, fishing rods, a moose head and a deer head wearing a cap.

Is there a serious bone in The Foreigner? Well, yes, but it doesn't take itself all that seriously. There is bigotry and the threat of violence that accompanies it. But there is laughter even there. If, to refer to another show, a "spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down" The Foreigner serves up at last a bowlful.

Message? Yes. But you'll be laughing too hard to really notice.