TheatreCentre is about to open The Foreigner, March 6-8, 7 p.m., at the Armory, and the hilarious tale of a lodge guest pretending to be a “foreigner” is only part of the fun. Director Gary Davis has compiled a cast of Cherokee County’s best, and just seeing them in these unique roles will have theatergoers rolling in the aisles.

Take, for example, the lead role of Charlie, played by Terry Dean.

Dean is best known as the editor of the Cherokee County Herald, Lion’s Club member, and deacon at First Baptist Church. But in this play he is transformed into Charlie, a painfully shy man, who just wants a little peace and quiet.

When Charlie is forced to spend time at a quaint southern hunting lodge, run by sweet little Betty Meeks and inhabited by a colorful cast of characters, he is longing for a way out. Charlie’s friend, Froggy LeSeuer (played by Ted Bridges), comes up with the perfect plan. Froggy introduces Charlie as a foreigner, who can’t speak any English.

Charlie and Froggy think this plan will solve all their problems. Instead, it sets the stage for a comedy of errors, with lodge residents revealing their deepest secrets to Charlie, the foreigner.

Poor Charlie becomes privy to all sorts of plots and schemes, while having to maintain his own secret identity as a non-English speaking foreigner.

The genius of this play is in the title character’s use of everything but the spoken word. Body language takes on a whole new meaning, with Charlie showing every emotion known to man, while speaking very little, if at all.

One of the benefits of reporting on a play is getting to see a scene or two ahead of time, in order to write an honest article, and let folks know what is to come. After being let in on just one act, I can assure you that seeing Dean play the part of Charlie will be one of the highlights of the TheatreCentre season.

Dean throws himself into this part, and can bring on side splitting laughter with just a sideways glance, a smirk, a look of shock or fear. When one of the other characters, Ellard (played by Larry Guffey) tries to teach Charlie how to speak English, Dean gets to use his flair for foreign accents, and plays the part to perfection.

The minute he saw the script, Dean knew he wanted to be a part of this production.

“I really liked this character’s demeanor,” Dean said. “It is a challenging role, but I really want to pull this off for Cherokee County. I think people will get a lot of laughs out of this. Every one of the characters have hilarious lines.”

Dean noted that there is a deeper message to the play as well, and he thinks folks in the audience will enjoy seeing that.

“There is a growing friendship between four characters, a bond is formed,” Dean said. “There is a line in the play where it says ‘they complete each other,’ and I think people will be touched by that.”

Director Davis thinks theater goers will relate to this production, since it is set in the mountains of northwest Georgia, and is full of southern charm.

“There is a lot of laughter and enjoyment in this story,” Davis said. “If you can’t laugh at this play, you can’t laugh!”

This cast is a mix of ages and experience, with everyone having fun – even if they are playing one of the bad guys!

Kyle Bryan plays the Rev. David Lee. Since Bryan is a pastor of two churches, Cedar Hill United Methodist and Bothwell United Methodist, you might think this was the perfect role for him. But there is a catch.

“In real life I am a minister, but this guy I play is completely different than I am,” Bryan reports. “He is a villain. He is mean and sneaky, and he is a racist. Not the kinds of things a pastor should be.”

Bryan has a co-villian in the play. Charles Garrett plays Owen Musser, who plays an ignorant bully. The crowd will enjoy rooting for these two to fail.

“Yes, I’m the villain, but I enjoy doing it,” Garrett said. “In this play I’m the butt of a lot of the jokes, but when people are entertained, that means a lot to us. We like to see everyone out there laughing and have a good time.”

Then there is the sweet Emily Perry, who plays Catherine Sims, the fiancé of Rev. David Lee, who has quite a few secrets of her own.

“This character is the complete opposite of me,” Perry said. “She is a former debutante, real loud, and sort of a floozy. I hope this play makes people smile and laugh at us acting like hooligans.”

There doesn’t seem to be any small parts in this production. Everyone is needed to tell the story, and create a stage for Charlie to get himself into, and out of, quite a few messes.

Ted Bridges, who plays Charlie’s friend Froggy, who happens to be a British Army Staff Seargent. In real life Bridges has a lifetime of military service behind him, but he said he didn’t bring that training to this part. Instead Bridges has brought his theater experience to the role to make his straight man character part of the hilarity.

“Folks who come to this production are going to get a very enjoyable evening for a very small cost,” Bridges said. He noted that play tickets are $10 each.

One of the more loveable characters in the play is the lodge owner, Betty Meeks, played by Sue Guffey, who has the added benefit of having played the part once before.

“I played Betty in a Gadsden production of The Foreigner,” Guffey reports, “And the funniest part of playing her is getting to do her country accent.”

Other cast members were quick to point out that audience members will “recognize” Betty.

“They will see Sue in this part, and say ‘hey, that is my Aunt Martha’ or ‘that lady taught me first grade,” said Sue’s husband, Larry Guffey.

Larry Guffey’s character, Ellard, will have people thinking twice. Ellard is Catherines’ brother, a resident at the lodge, and someone who takes a special interest in Charlie, their foreign visitor.

“People will have one opinion of Ellard at the beginning of the play, and a very different opinion at the end,” Guffey said. Ellard is described by one of the play’s character’s as a “half-wit”, but as the story develops the audience will see many sides of Ellard, all of them loveable.

“I think people will be rooting for some of the characters in this play, and then surprised by others,” Guffey said.

Whether you are cheering the good guys, booing the villains, or figuring out how Charlie is going to keep up his act, The Foreigner promises to pack a lot of laughs into each evening’s performance. The play will be performed at the Armory in Centre, March 6, 7, and 8, at 7 p.m. Tickets are $10 each, and can be purchased at the door.