If the witty banter between cast and crew members behind the scenes is any indication, Heber City theater company Charitable Acts Theatre’s production of Larry Shue’s 1984 comedy “The Foreigner” is going to be a riot.  “The first priority is to make everybody laugh so hard that they p ee their pants,” joked director David Thorpe. “So, we’re going to be handing out bottles of water and try to have everybody be really hydrated so that those with the weakest bladders can help us meet our goal.” The premise of “The Foreigner” ensures that it’ll be easy to laugh at. The play follows an Englishman, Charlie Baker, who visits a lodge in Georgia for a weekend trip. Feeling shy and depressed, Baker pretends to be a foreigner from a fictional country who doesn’t know English — a very reasonable excuse to get out of socializing. Actor Gary Page said playing Baker is, in many ways, a breeze. He barely speaks, and when he does, his lines are complete gibberish. If he flubs a word, he can just make up the next one. You can’t do that in Shakespeare. Heber City’s David Thorpe will direct Charitable Act Theatre’s production of “The Foreigner.” Credit: Gene Sweeney/Park Record It’s a very physical role, characterized by facial expressions and exaggerated body language. That’s resulted in a fair amount of chaos. During rehearsals, Page jumped from a table and collided straight into the ceiling. “Full leg spring into the thing, and you watched his head collapse into his rib cage,” Thorpe laughed. “And he landed, and everybody was like, ‘All right, so your next line is …’” Probably the trickiest thing for Page to pull off will be a three-page monologue written in gibberish, performed in a way so that the audience comprehends the monologue’s meaning despite it not making a lick of sense.  As Baker pretends not to understand English, people become much more loose-lipped around him. As a result, Baker learns all kinds of gossip and even discovers a plot by members of the Ku Klux Klan to take over the lodge as a new gathering place.  Some theater companies have chosen to remove the Klan storyline, but the crew at Charitable Acts Theatre felt it was important to carry on the play’s original mission of pointing out the horror and absurdity of racism. The cast and crew were inspired by a quote by 17th-century French playwright Molière: “The duty of comedy is to correct men by amusing them.” The play is rich with mature themes, including unwanted pregnancy, xenophobia and the fetishization of foreign cultures, but comedy makes these themes easily digestible for a general audience. “I think (the audience) will be reminded of things that are happening that are current events in America and out of America, but they won’t feel like they’re being talked down to or lectured to,” Thorpe said. “It will feel relevant and pertinent, but it will feel fun, and that’s the most important thing. This show is designed to be fun, to remind us to enjoy each other and to enjoy community.” Actors Ezra Fry, left, plays Ellard Simms and Gary Page plays Charlie Baker in “The Foreigner.” Credit: Gene Sweeney/For The Park RecordActor Gary Page, who plays Charlie Baker, is grabbed by Robyn Laine, playing Betty Meeks, while Brooke Boyd, playing Catherine Simms, and Alistar Ramsay Soubra, playing Reverend David Marshall Lee, look on. Credit: Gene Sweeney/For The Park Record Community is central not just to the script, but to Charitable Acts Theatre as a venture. The theater company was founded in 2022 with the mission of giving all proceeds to local charities.  Founder Carrie Zabaldo began her theater journey in childhood, but her passion fell to the wayside while raising her children in Oregon. There, she began volunteering with a bevy of charities. By the time she moved to Heber City, she knew she wanted to start a charity of her own, all while getting in touch with her thespian roots. Production costs for Charitable Acts Theatre productions are covered by grants, including Wasatch County Trails, Arts and Parks tax grants, as well as a haunted house fundraiser in October. That means truly every penny spent on a ticket is going directly to charity. Over five productions, Charitable Acts Theatre has raised over $72,000 for organizations including The Horse of Many Colors, Wasatch Community Foundation, Peace House and the Midway Playhouse. All proceeds made from ticket sales for “The Foreigner” will go to the Wasatch County Children’s Justice Center, which provides services to children undergoing the child abuse investigative process. “The Foreigner” runs Friday through March 28 at the Ideal Playhouse in Heber City. Learn more and purchase tickets at hebercat.org. The post Heber theater company offers hilarity for charity with ‘The Foreigner’ appeared first on Park Record. ...read more read less