Photo Flash: First Look - MIRACLE ON SOUTH DIVISION STREET at Theatre at the Center

From the urban streets of Buffalo, NY's East Side, comes the story of the working-class Nowak family as they cope with tested faith and life's surprises. Theatre at the Center, 1040 Ridge Road, Munster, Indiana, continues their 2014 season of premieres with Tom Dudzick's MIRACLE ON SOUTH DIVISION STREET, running through June 1 with a press opening on Sunday, May 4. Dudzick is the writer of the beloved comedy "Over the Tavern", which became a Theatre at the Center hit, and was also previously a long-running commercial success at The Mercury Theater - both under William Pullinsi's direction. Now as Director of MIRACLE ON SOUTH DIVISION STREET, Pullinsi presents the heartfelt and hilarious comedy that follows a supposed visitation by the Virgin Mary to a blue collar working class neighborhood, causing revelations for a family of Polish American Catholics.

MIRACLE ON SOUTH DIVISION STREET follows Mother Clara Nowak (Marilynn Bogetich) and her three grown children: Jimmy (Joe Popp), a garbage collector, Bev (Erin Grennan), a ketchup bottler, and Ruth (Adria Dawn), who would be a struggling actress if she could only get a part. In 1943, Clara's father had a vision of peace and the Blessed Mother while working in the family barbershop. To commemorate this miracle, he built a twenty-foot shrine of the Blessed Mother, which quickly became a beacon of hope to the neighbors and gave prestige to the family as it grew into popularity across the country.

Flash forward 70 years, where Clara happily runs her soup kitchen and waits for the Pope to give the miracle his seal of approval. The play opens with a family meeting, where daughter Ruth divulges her plan to finally "go public" with the family treasure by creating a one-woman play about the sacred event. During the course of the meeting, Clara's patience and religious faith are tested, and events cause the family legend to unravel - resulting in chaos on South Division Street.

Photos by Bridget Earnshaw