Orange Park Community Theatre’s Greetings

Dick Kerekes & Leisla Sansom November 15, 2009 Dual Critics, On Stage, Orange Park, Theatre, Theatre Reviews

The Orange Park Community Theatre opened its 2nd show of its 40th season, with Tom Dudzick’s Greetings. This play jumps starts the holiday season, but I supposed you guessed that with a title like Greetings. It will be on stage until December 5th. Call 276-2599 or visit them at www.opct.org.

The program says it is set in present day, but I would place it back in the 80s, since there are no cell phones, no computers and not even a television set. It all takes place in the comfortable living room of a lovely house in Pittsburgh designed by Lee Henderson. (I loved the yellow walls and the fancy wooden front door.)

The story line has oldest son Andy Gorski (Leigh Pressler) bringing home his Jewish atheist girl friend Randi Stein (Laura Hocklinski) to meet his very conservative Catholic parents, Phil and Emily Gorski (John Pope & Ellen Hare), and his mentally challenged brother Mickey (Cameron Henderson). When Andy announces he wants to marry Randi, his God fearing but grouchy father, launches into a speech about religion and faith, while Phil’s sweet and gentle wife, Emily, tries to calm the waters.

The story actually revolves around the 23 year old Mickey, who has only said three words his entire life; Wow! or Oh Boy! The family has little hope he will ever change, but they love him dearly. Then suddenly an all knowing, and all powerful spirit descends upon the household, changing everyone in the household in different ways. That is as far as I will take you in this plot since to give you more would spoil the surprises to come.

I have seen this play several times, since it has been around since 1991, and has been done in the North Florida at least 4 times that I can recall. I really enjoyed this version because of the excellent casting and direction.

Pages: 1 2

Tags Beverly Crocco Cameron Henderson Ellen Hare John Pope Laura Hocklinski Lee Henderson Leigh Pressler Linda Marshall Orange Park Community Theatre Patti Peres Susan Cacaba Tom Nehl

About Dick Kerekes & Leisla Sansom

The Dual Critics of EU Jacksonville have been reviewing plays together for the past nine years. Dick Kerekes has been a critic since 1980, starting with The First Coast Entertainer and continuing as the paper morphed into EU Jacksonville. Leisla Sansom wrote reviews from time to time in the early 80s, but was otherwise occupied in the business world. As a writing team, they have attended almost thirty Humana Festivals of New America Plays at Actors Theatre in Louisville, Kentucky, and many of the annual conferences sponsored by the American Theatre Critics Association, which are held in cities throughout the country. They have reviewed plays in Cincinnati, Chicago, Miami, Sarasota, Minneapolis, Orlando, New York, Philadelphia, Sarasota, San Francisco, Shepherdstown, and The Eugene O’Neill Center in Waterford, Massachusetts. They currently review about one hundred plays annually in the North Florida area theaters, which include community, college, university, and professional productions.

march, 2023

Event Type

Neighborhood

Event Location

Event Organizer