Review: MIRACLE ON SOUTH DIVISION STREET Delights at Penguin Rep Theatre

Meet the Nowaks of Buffalo and of proud Polish descent, who are denizens of a blighted neighborhood, circa 2010. They populate Tom Dudzick’s delightful comedic play Our Lady of South Division Street, at Penguin Rep Theatre in Nyack, Rockland County, N.Y. through June 29.

In the confident and craftsmanlike hands of Mr. Dudzick and director Joe Brancato, the audience is treated to a breezy look at familial relations that is smartly informed by the writer’s abiding sense of balance between lighthearted banter and matters of faith, ambition, tolerance and family secrets that surface and hit home with the force of a torpedo, shattering a lifetime of misbegotten beliefs. 

As purveyors of Christian charity, the four Nowaks –  three 30ish siblings and their mother – run a soup kitchen that offers a modest respite to those in need, under the banner of “Our Lady’s Miracle Soup–Prepared on Holy Ground.” 

The kitchen’s branding derives from the family’s cherished legacy: the mother’s father, a Polish emigre who escaped Europe during World War II, claimed he witnessed a vision of the Blessed Mother appearing in his barber shop (now the soup kitchen), which inspired him to commission a shrine for his shop. That avowed “miracle” – accepted by one and all at face value – earned the Nowaks decades of reverence as a neighborhood deity.  

In a material sense, the shrine also proved a reliable repository for modest donations in coin currency as local parishioners paid their respects to the spiritual statue that stood vigil over the Nowaks’ barber shop. (Think of it as…  shave and a haircut, two bits, and don’t forget to tip the Blessed Mother.) 

As we meet the family, it soon becomes clear they are not at all on the same page when it comes to matters of faith, and, for that matter, matters of multi-cultural blending.

There’s Ruth (Grace Experience), a free spirit who has designs of joining her friend Lucy in New York City to pursue an acting career. Brother Jimmy (Joey Pittorino), the clan’s Mr. Fixit and a comic book fan, is a pragmatist who believes in everybody getting along. He’s about to spring the big question of matrimony on newish Jewish girlfriend Rachel Silverstein.  

As thorny issues arise among the Nowaks, we see how Ruth and Jimmy are of a pair, pitted against the mother-daughter pair who are au contraire – sister Beverly (Coryn Carson) and materfamilias Clara (Liz McCartney). Where Ruth and Jimmy are trusting and accepting of others, Clara and her carbon copy Beverly are suspicious and not tolerant of those whose lifestyle (or ethnicity) is beyond their ken.

If those character breakdowns sound faintly familiar, I definitely discerned echoes here of a milestone TV sitcom, namely Norman Lear’s one and only All in the Family. In fact, I had fun aligning the two shows’ cast of characters. 

In their narrow-mindedness and decidedly unworldly base of knowledge, Clara and Beverly are a composite distaff version of  Archie Bunker. Clara’s version of hell is having to read a tome like Moby Dick, she considers The 10 Commandments an Easter movie and insists Jesus was not Jewish but the first Catholic. Beverly the beer-swilling bowling devotee is right there beside mom with her own benighted worldview.

Innocent and ambitious Ruth fits the Gloria mold, with perhaps a dash of Edith thrown in, while Jimmy, who tries to talk sense to his mother and Beverly, makes a credible Mike (aka “Meathead”), a rebel with a cause, albeit with a tarter tongue. 

Liz McCartney brings to Clara the assured stage command and magnetic personality one would expect from the actor’s prolific resume, anchored by 14 Broadway shows. She’s a trouper from the get-go and instills the rest of the cast with an infectious energy. Coryn Carson renders blowsy Beverly as a believable opposite of (and jealous of) Ruth. In that role, Grace Experience has us rooting for her authentic mix of passion and naivete, while Joey Pitorino is smoothly ingratiating as big-hearted, good guy Jimmy.   

The plot turns on Ruth calling a family meeting that turns into a series of well-timed and content-rich reveals that propel the action satisfyingly and briskly. It adds up to a highly pleasing and cleverly diverting drama elegantly constructed in simple, straightforward fashion with delicious twists that accumulate one by one in a steady build of surprises that keeps the audience locked in and laughing heartily. 

Mr. Dudzick demonstrates a sharp and knowing ear for how familial relationships are played out in kitchen conversations and in sibling rivalries. He also nicely limns the generation gap that makes for unavoidable parent-child contretemps. At the same time, the playwright doesn’t forsake the tenderness that is bred into a family like the Nowaks even as they are calling each other out for petty grievances.   

As with All in the Family, his humor springs organically from the characters’ personalities rather than shoehorned in as one-liners – neither Clara nor Archie are trying to be funny, yet they precipiate peals of laughter with their malapropisms and buffoonery. 

The production is designed by Christian Fleming (set and costumes), Pamela Kupper (lighting), Jeff Knapp (sound), and Dana R. Weintraub (props). April Ann Kline is the production stage manager. Joshua Warner is production manager and Isaac Goldbaum is assistant stage manager. Joe Branco is artistic director and Andrew Horn executive director of Penguin Rep Theatre.