by ASHLEY MILLER

for the Sequim Gazette

Get ready to expect the unexpected.

The Port Angeles Community Players are presenting “Nude with Violin,” a comical play by Noël Coward, on Tuesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays May 6-22. Directed by local theater enthusiast Pat Owens, “Nude with Violin” tells the tale of a famous modern artist whose works hang in museums across the world.

When the artist dies, he reveals in a letter to his confidant, played by Ron Graham, that he never painted any of his masterpieces: He just signed them and had ex-girlfriends and a Jamaican artist do the paintings. When all of this is revealed, the “artists,” a Russian aristocrat played by Marine Jahan and an ex-showgirl played by Shelley Taylor, drop by to get a piece of the money pie.

“You can’t really believe one person from the next,” Owens said with a smile. “Art is always very subjective.”

Owens, a regular on the stage in the Sequim and Port Angeles communities, is a huge fan of Coward’s work. He’s starred in many of Coward’s plays and enjoys them partly because of the writing and partly because he can’t read one of Coward’s scripts without hearing the playwright’s accent in his head, he said.

Usually, Owens is most comfortable on stage.

“I don’t direct very often,” he said. “I’d much rather be in the play.”

For this play, however, he decided to make an exception. And he hopes people will make time to attend the production.

“Come see some of your favorite actors on stage,” Owens encouraged. “Come laugh and have a good time. You’ll get a comic look at art and enjoy an intelligent family show.”

Taylor as Cherry-May describes the plot as a “hoot.”

“If you’re familiar with Noël Coward, you know how witty and pithy and funny his plays can be,” she said.

As a thank-you to the men and women in uniform, all active military and their spouses are invited to attend the show for free.