Editing Larry Shue (section)

==Career==
Shue began his career as a professional actor and playwright with the Harlequin Dinner Theatre in both [[Washington, D.C.]], and [[Atlanta]], [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]].<ref name=bryer/><ref name=playwrights-directory>{{cite book|editor-last=Kaye|editor-first=Phyllis Johnson|title=National Playwrights Directory|year=1981|publisher=Eugene O'Neill Theater Center|location=Waterford, Conn.|isbn=9780960516001|page=[https://archive.org/details/nationalplaywrig00kaye/page/387 387]|edition=2nd|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/nationalplaywrig00kaye/page/387}}</ref><ref name= "Atla">{{cite news |last= Crouch |first= Paula |title= Actor's no alien to ''Foreigner'' role – Brooks brings perspective to Atlantan's comedy |work=[[The Atlanta Journal-Constitution]] |date=January 11, 1987 |page= J1 }}</ref> John Dillon, artistic director at the renowned [[Milwaukee Repertory Theater]], saw him performing and offered him a job. 

He enthusiastically began his life at the Rep with the role of the sailor Joe in the 1980 premiere of ''[[Lakeboat]]'' by [[David Mamet]]. An impressed Mamet dedicated the play to Shue and Dillon.<ref name=mamet>{{cite book|last=Mamet|first=David|author-link=David Mamet|title=The Woods; Lakeboat; Edmond|year=1983|publisher=Grove Press|location=New York City|isbn=0802151094}}</ref> Shue also played the role of Donny Dubrow in a 1983 run of Mamet's ''[[American Buffalo (play)|American Buffalo]]'' at the [[Marcus Center|Marcus Performing Arts Center's]] Todd Wehr Theater in Milwaukee.<ref>{{cite web |title=1983-1984: American Buffalo. From left: Tony Amendola as Walter Cole ('Teach') and Larry Shue as Donny Dubrow [Photo] |publisher=[[University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee]] Manuscript Collection |url=https://collections.lib.uwm.edu/digital/collection/mkerep/id/164/ |access-date=May 20, 2025}}</ref>

Although Shue thought of himself primarily as an experienced actor, Dillon knew he had written skits and short plays since college. Shue was reluctant to show his writing at a professional level, but Dillon encouraged him with "loving bullying."<ref name="Utah">{{cite web |last=Hughes |first=Rachelle |title=Study Guides / About the Playwright: The Foreigner |publisher=The Professional Theatre at [[Southern Utah University]] |work=[[Utah Shakespeare Festival]] Study Guides |url=https://www.bard.org/study-guides/about-the-playwright-the-foreigner/ |access-date=May 20, 2025}}</ref> Shue told an interviewer in 1984 that he found writing unpleasant. "The thing that gets these plays written is stomach-churning fear. They are selling the tickets for the play, so I know I must finish it. I worry about it all the time."<ref name="Utah" /> However, he also said, "The end result is so much fun. I try to write all the parts like I would want to play them." Milwaukee Rep actor James Pickering, for whom Shue wrote the lead character in ''The Nerd'', said, "As you can tell from Larry's plays, he had an extremely active verbal imagination. His skill at writing comedy was hard-wired into him. It was in his DNA."<ref name="Utah" /> Shue wrote much of his comedy on a bench overlooking [[Lake Michigan]] and [[Central Library (Milwaukee, Wisconsin)|Milwaukee's Central Library]]. 

Shue's two best-known comedy plays were written and first performed while he was playwright-in-residence at the Milwaukee Repertory Theater:
*''[[The Nerd (play)|The Nerd]]'' premiered in April 1981, and was produced successfully in [[London]]'s [[West End theatre|West End]]. It transferred to [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] in 1987. It is a character-based comedy in which a dinner party, interrupted by a houseguest from hell who plans to stay indefinitely, dissolves into insanity.
*[[The Foreigner (play)|''The Foreigner'']] premiered on January 13, 1983, and transferred to [[Off-Broadway]]. The central character is Charlie Baker, who, while on a vacation in a [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] hunting lodge, pretends not to be able to understand [[English language|English]], so as to avoid the attentions of the other guests. His plan backfires and he soon finds himself the confidant of everyone there, especially a debutante who is unhappy with her engagement and her slow-witted brother, who thinks he is teaching Charlie English. Charlie ends up having to foil the schemes of the local xenophobic [[Ku Klux Klan]] chapter without revealing his secret.

The off-Broadway production of ''The Foreigner'' resulted in two [[Obie]] awards in 1985, to [[Jerry Zaks]] for direction and [[Anthony Heald]] for performance.<ref name=obies-1985>{{cite web|title=New York Obies Theater Awards|url=http://www.villagevoice.com/obies/index/1985/|publisher=Village Voice, LLC|access-date=8 April 2013}}</ref> From the [[Outer Critics Circle]], it received the [[Outer Critics Circle Awards#Categories|John Gassner Playwriting Award]] (presented for an American play, preferably by a new playwright) and the award for [[Outer Critics Circle Awards#Categories|Outstanding Off-Broadway Play]].<ref name=occ-1984>{{cite web|title=Awards Archive|url=http://www.outercritics.org/AwardArchives.aspx?_y=1984-1985|publisher=Outer Critics Circle|access-date=8 April 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080505212110/http://www.outercritics.org/AwardArchives.aspx?_y=1984-1985|archive-date=5 May 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref>

His other work includes:

* ''Grandma Duck Is Dead'' (1984){{efn|The publication date, in the [[Dramatists Play Service]] printing, is given as 1984. The [[University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee]] Manuscript Collection, which holds Shue's papers, contains the play in their 1978-1979 file.<ref>{{cite web |title=1978-1979: Grandma Duck is Dead. From left: Michael Simpson as Esperanza and James Pickering as Woody [Photo] |publisher=[[University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee]] Manuscript Collection |url=https://collections.lib.uwm.edu/digital/collection/mkerep/id/164/ |access-date=May 19, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=1978-1979: Grandma Duck is Dead. Photo of Bruce Somerville as Badger and Heather Moore as Paula (foreground); James Pickering as Woody and Michael Simpson as Esperanza (background) |work=University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee Manuscript Collection |url=https://collections.lib.uwm.edu/digital/collection/mkerep/id/166/ |access-date=May 19, 2025}}</ref>}} – A long [[one-act play]] about the antics of graduating seniors in a college [[dormitory]] in 1968. The ''[[Chicago Reader]]'' said, "As drawer plays go, this early work by the author of ''The Foreigner'' and ''The Nerd'' about college-buddy bonding is pretty good. The usual treacle about having to grow up and move on is nicely contrasted with some genuinely inventive plotting and some amusing situations."<ref>{{cite web |last=Langer |first=Adam |title=Grandma Duck Is Dead |date=January 14, 1993 |work=[[Chicago Reader]] |url=https://chicagoreader.com/arts-culture/grandma-duck-is-dead/1 |access-date=May 19, 2025}}</ref>
* ''My Emperor's New Clothes: A Musical Play for Children'' (1985) – A popular, often-revived [[One-act play|one-act]] [[Musical theatre|musical]] comedy set in the kingdom of Mango-Chutney, full of slapstick and based on the [[Hans Christian Andersen]] story "[[The Emperor's New Clothes]]." A ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' reviewer describes the proceedings: "The recipe for success in children's theater contains only two main ingredients: Get the youngsters involved in the show through interaction and throw in a few chuckles for the older audience members."<ref>{{cite web |last=Titus |first=Tom |date=August 5, 2000 |title=Theater Review |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |url=https://www.latimes.com/socal/daily-pilot/news/tn-dpt-xpm-2000-08-05-export57679-story.html |access-date=May 19, 2025}}</ref>
* ''[[Wenceslas Square (play)|Wenceslas Square]]'' (1988) – set in 1974 [[Prague]] after the Soviet invasion of 1968

Shue's film appearances include the shorts ''A Common Confusion''; ''Another Town''; and ''The Land of the Blind: or The Hungry Leaves''; and the feature-length ''[[Sweet Liberty]]''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Larry Shue (1946-1985) |publisher=[[IMDb]] |url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0795579/?ref_=fn_all_nme_1 |access-date=May 19, 2025}}</ref> He played the role of the Doctor in the [[TV movie]] ''O. Henry's Christmas'', in the episode "The Last Leaf," based on [[The Last Leaf|the short story of the same title]].<ref>{{cite web |title=O. Henry's Christmas |publisher=[[IMDb]] |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3961102/?ref_=nm_flmg_job_1_cdt_t_1 |access-date=May 19, 2025}}</ref> He appeared in the soap opera ''[[One Life to Live]]''.<ref name=ctft />

A colleague described Shue's enjoyment of behind-the scenes preparations. "[H]is theatrical interests extended to fiddling with make-up, disguises, and prosthetics. He used his kitchen as a laboratory to experiment with his favorite disguise material, [[foam latex]]. His kitchen-turned-lab was probably one of the reasons he spent most evenings eating out at an establishment called Ma Fisher's."<ref name="Utah" /> In ''The Nerd'', the title character creates an awkward self-introduction by showing up for a birthday party which he thinks is a Halloween party. Shue's scripted directions describe the display: ''He is dressed in a Hallowe'en costume which is really needlessly horrible, never mind the fact that it is several days too late — the [[Creature from the Black Lagoon]], perhaps, after a tussle with the propeller of an ore-boat — glistening wounds on a scaly, green body, one eye semi-detached, and so on. The outfit must have cost him ninety dollars.''<ref>{{cite book |last=Shue |first=Larry |date=1984 |title=The Nerd |location=New York |publisher=Dramatists Play Service, Inc. |page=20 |isbn=0822208113}}</ref> What follows in the dialogue is an extended comedic piece about a costume competition. Similarly, the thrilling climax of ''The Foreigner'' relies upon [[Ku Klux Klan]] sheet costumes, and ''My Emperor's New Clothes'' requires elaborate and colorful costumes suitably designed to attract a young audience.