BTE Caps 2018-2019 Season With MIRACLE ON SOUTH DIVISION STREET

Buffalo Theatre Ensemble (BTE), the professional Equity company in residence at the McAninch Arts Center, located at 425 Fawell Blvd. on the campus of College of DuPage (COD), caps its 2018-2019 season with "Miracle on South Division Street" by Tom Dudzick, directed by Steve Scott, May 2-June 2. Press opening is Friday, May 3.

"Miracle on South Division Street" revolves around the Nowak family, members of the Roman Catholic, Polish-American community living on the East Side of Buffalo, N.Y. Clara, the family matriarch, happily runs her soup kitchen and tends to the family heirloom - a 20-foot shrine to the Blessed Mother that commemorates the day in 1942 when the Blessed Virgin Mary materialized in her father's barber shop. In a family meeting, daughter Ruth, a struggling actress, divulges her plan to go public with the family miracle by creating a one-woman play about the sacred event. However, the entire family's faith is shaken to the core when a deathbed confession causes the family legend to unravel. The New York Times calls the play, "a sprightly, gentle comedy," and the Tucson Weekly calls it, " a good-natured piece that has us laughing from start to finish at a wonderfully contrived setup and characters who are not so very different from people we know and love."

The cast for "Miracle on South Division Street" includes *Nick DuFloth (Jimmy), seen most recently as Gunney Sergeant in BTE's 2019 Jeff Recommended production of "Defiance;" *Rebecca Cox (Ruth), featured in BTE's 2017-2018 season opener, the Jeff Recommended "The 39 Steps;" Millie Hurley (Clara), seen in last spring's Jeff Recommended production of "Outside Mullingar;" and *Kelli Walker (Beverly), seen most recently in this fall's "The Ding Dong, Or How the French Kiss," as well as last spring's Jeff Recommended production of "Outside Mullingar."

Steve Scott (Director) returns for his seventh production at BTE, where he most recently directed last season's "Outside Mullingar." For more than 30 years he served as Producer at The Goodman Theatre, and is currently an artistic associate at the Goodman. His directing credits there include "The Santaland Diaries;" "Ah, Wilderness;" "Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike", Horton Foote's "Blind Date;" the world premiere of Tom Mula's "Jacob Marley's Christmas Carol;" and six editions of "A Christmas Carol."

Scott has directed at a wide variety of professional companies in Chicago. Recent productions include "Mothers and Sons" at Northlight, "Death of a Salesman" at Redtwist (where he is a company member), "Bus Stop" at Eclipse Theatre (where he is a 20-year company member), "Rose" at the Greenhouse Theatre, "The Spitfire Grill" for the Dunes (IN) Summer Theatre and "Summer and Smoke" and "Stage Door" at the Theatre Conservatory of the College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University, where he has been on the faculty for more than two decades. He has also taught at Columbia College Chicago, Loyola University of Chicago, Northwestern University, Northern Illinois University and the Latin School of Chicago; and serves on the board of Season of Concern. For his work as a director, Scott has received six Jeff nominations, an After Dark Award, and numerous Broadway World nominations. He received the 2017 Special Jeff Award for his contributions to the Chicago theater community and the 2018 Lifetime Achievement Award from the League of Chicago Theatres.

Additional members of the artistic/design team include Sarah Lewis (Scenic Design), Rachel Sypniewski (Costume Design), *Jon Gantt (Lighting Design), *Christopher Kriz (Original Music and Sound Design), and Vivian Knouse (Properties Design). Stage Manager is Cathryn (Bula) Bulicek; Assistant Stage Manager is Danielle Wiseman, Brandon Torres BTE Assistant Stage Management Scholarship recipient.
* Denotes BTE Ensemble Member

Buffalo Theatre Ensemble presents "Miracle on South Division Street" by Tom Dudzick, directed by Steve Scott, in the Playhouse Theatre of McAninch Arts Center, 425 Fawell Blvd.,May 2-June 2. Press opening is Friday, May 3. Performances are Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. Tickets are $40. For more information, visit AtTheMAC.org or call 630.942.4000. All BTE 2018-2019 season performances contain adult themes and language.

Related Special Events: Post-show discussion with director, actors and crew, Friday, May 10. Visit AtTheMAC for updates or more information.

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