A Little Bit of Broadway

Maurer Productions OnStage debuts with ‘The Foreigner’ at Kelsey Theatre.

By: Jillian Kalonick

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The cast of ‘The Foreigner’, clockwise from bottom: James Bryan as Ellard Simms, Susan Schwirck as Betty Meeks, Dan Spalluto as Owen Musser, David DiLiberto as Rev. David Marshall Lee, Meredith McLeod as Catherine Simms, Mark Violi as Staff Sergeant Froggy LeSeuer and Doug Edelson as Charlie Baker.


   After seeing Larry Shue’s The Foreigner in its original off- Broadway run at the Astor Place Theatre, John Maurer always hoped that someone would produce the show locally, so he could be part of the cast.
   "It was one of first shows I saw in New York when I was at college," says Mr. Maurer, who was a theater student at Mercer County Community College. "I liked the show… it was a small number of interesting characters that had a good mix of humor and drama in it — it wasn’t just slapstick, it had a message, but it didn’t hit you over the head."
   Mr. Maurer never had an opportunity to act in a local production of The Foreigner, but when he formed Maurer Productions OnStage, a nonprofit theater group, he decided it would be perfect for the company’s first full-length offering. The play, which was the winner of a New York Obie and the Outer Critics Circle Award for best off-Broadway production, will be presented at Kelsey Theatre in West Windsor Jan. 7-16.
   Mr. Maurer founded Maurer Productions, a Ewing-based television and multimedia services company, in 1989, and also heads Standing Tall Promotions, which offers clowning services for live promotional events. The goal for Maurer Productions OnStage, he says, is "Broadway-quality shows at community theater prices," including drama, comedies, musicals, original works, staged readings and children’s entertainment.
   The first Maurer Productions OnStage offering was Nosing Around with Baked Oranges, part of Kelsey’s summer children’s series, which starred Mr. Maurer, his wife, Diana Gilman Maurer, and two of their children: Stacy, 8, and Hunter, 6.
   "We started getting back heavily into community theater two or three years ago. With three kids we couldn’t do as much as we used to," says Mr. Maurer. "We decided we wanted to have control and try our hand at producing."
   With Ms. Gilman Maurer constructing the costumes and props, and Dan Maurer, John’s brother, in charge of public relations, the company has become "sort of a family business," says Mr. Maurer. In Nosing Around with Baked Oranges, Stacy and Hunter "kept adding themselves into more and more scenes," and their daughter, Amanda, 3, is eager to get in on the action.
   "She wants to get on stage," says Mr. Maurer. "After watching the show so often she knows most of the routines."
   Most of Mr. Maurer’s directing experience comes from his TV work, producing pieces for corporations including Johnson & Johnson and Dow Jones. Through Maurer Productions, he has spent several years doing set and costume design and makeup work for local community theater groups.
   "In theater, you’re working on trying to get performance out of people and the environment," he says. "In TV, you have you worry about who’s being seen and camera placement — it’s like a tech week the entire shoot. You have to worry about sound and acting, and everyone’s waiting on the next camera angle."
   In The Foreigner a shy Englishman, Charlie, is marooned in a Georgia fishing lodge and avoids social interaction by pretending to be from an exotic country. When the locals speak freely in front of him, he learns their secrets and his act leads to dangerous consequences. Playwright Shue’s career was cut short when he died in a plane crash in 1985, at age 39. The Foreigner was an off-Broadway hit, and was the beginning of Shue’s success as a playwright.
   Dan Spalluto plays the bigoted Owen Muser, "a standard redneck in a caricature, cartoon way," Mr. Spalluto says. A founder of Like 40 Productions, the Hamilton resident has produced and directed shows with the group, but wanted to get back to being on stage. He has appeared on HBO’s American Undercover, and will play a cop in the upcoming film American Crude, a dark comedy by Craig Sheffer.
   With Like 40, Mr. Spalluto says, "We wanted to do something that was non-musical, a little more challenging and cutting edge… we wanted to rise above standard community fare. When I started my company I wanted it to have a professional objective. John has the same thing."
The Foreigner plays at Kelsey Theatre, Mercer County Community College, 1200 Old Trenton Road, West Windsor, Jan. 7, 14-15, 8 p.m.; Jan. 8, 2, 8 p.m.; Jan. 9, 16, 2 p.m. Tickets cost $12, $10 seniors/students/children. For information, call (609) 584-9444. On the Web: www.kelseyatmccc.org. Maurer Productions OnStage on the Web: www.theforeigneronstage.com, www.maurerproductions.com