The Foreigner makes debut at Rosebud Theater
By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
The Rosebud Theatre and School of the Arts hosted its debut performance of The Foreigner, by Larry Shue, at the Rosebud Opera House, March 29, to a sold-out audience.
Paul Muir, executive director of the Rosebud Theater and School of the Arts, explained The Foreigner is the first show of the 2025 season, which has been dubbed the “Season of Belonging.”
“At the core of what we are here to do, our mission is to enrich lives, and when I get to experience this kind of a thing with an audience like this, it just feels so good, it feels like what we are meant to do,” said Muir.
“Morris Ertman is our outgoing artistic director. He … actually put this whole season in place and then retired. When Morris curated the season, he was putting together a collection of plays that were all about people, characters, human beings finding their place in the world or in their community or in their culture, or sometimes in the family.”
The Foreigner revolves around Charlie Baker, played by Nathan Schmidt, who is brought to a run-down rural fishing lodge to relax and be away from his wife for a few days.
In order to ease his social anxiety and prevent others from interacting with him, a ruse is constructed explaining Charlie is a foreigner who does not speak English.
Despite this, Charlie quickly befriends those around him as he plays the part of a curious outsider and meddles for the well-being of his new friends. Along the way, he also discovers a new personality and confidence about himself.
“What I love about the story is that it is a group of people who feel like outsiders in their lives. They feel like foreigners in their own lives. They do not have a place to belong, and they are thrown together in this ramshackle fishing lodge, and they start to bring out qualities in one another that they did not realize they had,” said Heather Pattengale, director of Rosebud’s The Foreigner. “They nudge each other towards bravery and compassion and generosity and then they are faced with darkness and evil, they band together to overcome it. That is why I love this story so much and it is just hilarious too.”
Pattengale described it as a gift for a show to open to a sold-out theatre, and to receive a standing ovation immediately out of the gate.
Muir explained work on the production, including costumes, set design, sound design, among the rest of the background work began approximately nine months ago. The first table read took place approximately four weeks prior to the opening performance.
The Foreigner will be running at the Rosebud Theater and School of the Arts until May 24. More information as well as tickets are available online through the Rosebud Theater’s website.