Players Circle Theater is putting on a quirky and very sweet production of Greetings by Tom Dudzick during the holiday season.
It is 1990, and the Gorkskis, a very Catholic Pittsburgh couple, are awaiting a Christmas visit from their elder son who lives in New York City. They’re thrilled to meet his girlfriend until they learn she is an atheist.
Carrie Lund Cacioppo and Douglas Rees are right at home in the roles of the parents who bicker and holler in the way of long-married folks.
Shane Dinan and Natalie Brouwer are sympathetic as the younger couple.
But Harvey Evans as the younger son of the Gorskis gives an extraordinary performance in a difficult role. I don’t want to spoil the story for you. Just watch him carefully and wait to be surprised.
Director Ted Wioncek III says he and the cast spent a week discussing and analyzing the concepts in the play. No wonder. It certainly covers a lot of territory. Why do you believe the things you do? Can you change someone else? What is reality? Do miracles exist? Heady stuff but written in a charmingly humorous way. What a smart choice of a play to present right before Christmas.
The set was a bit more elaborate than previous plays here. Steven McLean did a great job recreating a replica of a million family homes of this era at Christmas. The sound and light design by Tyler Omundsen is very effective.
If you’re looking for a feel good play that’s not one of the usual suspects, give this show a try. It runs through December 22. For tickets, call 239.800.3292.
PS. If you are not from Pittsburgh, you might not notice the trace of an authentic accent in Douglas Rees’s speech. But I am, and I did. You don’t hear my native dialect that often on stage, and it made me smile.
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