SOLANA BEACH, CA -- Michael T. Folie is a switch-hitter. Not only can he write hit plays--such as The Adjustment, now packing them in at the North Coast Repertory Theatre after long runs in New York and Los Angeles--but he can wow the business world with CEO- level speeches.

Folie, who started as an actor (Kennedy Center, Oregon Shakespeare Festival), combines a life in the theatre with freelance speech-writing for the likes of Steven T. Florio, president of Conde Nast Publications. Others on his client list include senior executives at McGraw-Hill Companies Inc., The New Yorker and Philip Morris.

"Writing speeches isn't so different from writing plays," Folie said. "I think of them as little 20- minute scripts when I sit down to write them. I also urge my clients to approach them as an actor would a part, because if they don't work on the text and immerse themselves in it, the speech will bomb in front of an audience."

Stirring up audiences is something Folie knows how to do. The Los Angeles Times called The Adjustment a "full-bodied, full-blooded play, the kind of melding of ideas, surprising wit, theatrics and willfully individualistic characters that the American theatre desperately needs."

A three-character story dealing with a successful single woman, an anti-religious political lobbyist, who has an ill- fated romance with an Hasidic Jew, a young, married-with-children chiropractor, The Adjustment continues through May 31 at North Coast Repertory Theatre, which is located in the Southeast corner of the Lomas Santa Fe Plaza. Showtimes are Thurs.-Sat. at 8 PM; Sun. at 2 & 7 PM. Tickets are $16-$18, with $2 discounts for students, seniors and military. Call (888) 776-NCRT. -- By Willard Manus
Southern California Correspondent