Feb. 16, 2024

Theatre Northwest to present “Miracle on South Division Street” March 1-2

By Kayla Holman, communication assistant

Northwest Missouri State University’s Theatre Northwest will present a student-directed production of Tom Dudzick’s “Miracle on South Division Street” next month.

Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 1, and Saturday, March 2, in the Studio Theater at the Ron Houston Center for the Performing Arts. Tickets are $6 and may be purchased at www.nwmissouri.edu/finearts/theatre/.

“Miracle on South Division Street” is a comedy about the Nowak family of Buffalo, New York. After Grandpa Nowak arrived in the United States from Poland in 1942, he claimed to have witnessed a holy vision from the Virgin Mary. When Ruth, the family’s youngest daughter, decides to write a one-woman show about the family’s miracle, secrets are revealed that question the family legend.

Grace Garrigan, pictured performing last fall in Alpha Psi Omega “Torrent of Friendship,” is directing Theatre Northwest's production of “Miracle on South Division Street.” (Photo by Todd Weddle/Northwest Missouri State University)

Audiences can expect a feel-good show that incorporates a sitcom-like feeling, with themes of family and faith.

“It is such a deeply funny show,” said Grace Garrigan, the play’s director and a junior speech theatre education major from Council Bluffs, Iowa. “It’s like going to a family reunion and watching the drama play out.”

Garrigan also notes the cast includes students from outside the University’s theatre program, and Theatre Northwest welcomes students of all majors.

“Half of our cast are non-theatre majors,” Garrigan said. “It shows that Theatre Northwest is for everybody – not just people getting degrees in it.”

Theatre Northwest’s 2023-2024 season concludes this spring with the play, “Radium Girls,” April 11-14.

For more information about Theatre Northwest, call 660.562.1321 or email theatre@nwmissouri.edu.