The Connecticut Repertory Theatre's 2000 Nutmeg Summer Series will conclude with Larry Shue's comedy The Foreigner. It opens at the Harriet S. Jorgensen Theatre at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, and will run July 20-29. The Off-Broadway play won two Obie Awards and two Outer Critics Circle Awards.

In the play, Charlie, a pathologically shy man, arrives in Georgia. He has his friend Froggy tell everyone that he is from a foreign country, in order to avoid making contact with others. Assuming Charlie can't understand them, people talk in front of him openly, and he overhears more than he should about the people around him.

Ken O'Brien is Charlie Baker. Other CRT credits of his include West Side Story (Officer Krupke and Glad Hand), Jesus Christ Superstar (Pilate), and Horatio in Hamlet. Froggy is played by Stan W. Bayley, who appeared in CRT's West Side Story as Lt. Shrank, and Angels in America as Klemper. He also appeared in,The Boys Next Door, which won the 1998-1999 Connecticut Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Ensemble. Other cast member include Lindsey Beeman, June Squibb, Peter-Michael Marino, Ron McClary, and Jordan Monsell.

The play is under the direction of James Alexander Bond. He most recently directed the Off-Broadway revival of The Merry Wives of Windsor at the Pearl Theatre. The production team consists of Mark Fitzgibbons (set design), Sabrina Notarfrancisco (costume design), Tina Louise Jones (lighting design) and Shannon Kennedy (sound design).

The theatre is located on Hillside Road on the University of Connecticut campus. For ticket information, call the box office at (860) 486-4226. - by Daniel Fischer