Spooks

Eerie Erie?

There’s nothing quite like a home-cooked meal or a play served up by a local playwright. The references, the character’s diction and other flavors that make a play relatable to its local audience, always gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling, even if it is a drama. It’s just proof to this gal that the arts are here”if you know where to look.

So, where’d this theaterphile find herself a heapin’ helpin’ of Flagship City? The Performing Artists Collective Alliance’s production of Spooks, a comedy by Erieite Richard Boler.

Directed by Richard Davis, Spooks is set in 1986, within the Skowronski family living room at 369 Steam Alley, where the five sisters have congregated to have their house blessed, an annual tradition. Why? Maybe it’s because of the wild dogs who prowl the city streets. Abandoned by their owners who left to seek their fortunes elsewhere, they terrorize the local citizenry who venture outside.

Couldn’t hurt, right?

Once the sisters Annie, (Coreen Scott), Pearl (Teresa Testrake), Irene Rose (Jacilyn Snyder), Josie (Betsy Butoryak) are present, they await the arrival of Father Wisinski (Wayne Gardner) to proceed with the blessing. However, during the ritual, an unseen spirit demands they reveal the family’s horrible secret. After a night spent of soul searching by the siblings, the secret is discovered.

Originally produced in 1991 at the Roadhouse Theatre, the current show even has a member of the cast (Bob Dombrowski as the narrator) who’s performed in every production of Spooks, according to the playbill. Talk about local history, huh?

Family histories are often fodder for humor”as long as it’s not your family. Lace it with Polish-American-Erie dialect and ample vino and theatergoers have a delightful insightful night at 369 Steam Alley.

See you in the balcony!

***Thea Tah

Spooks runs through May 7. For more information, visit paca1505.org.