Short Takes: The Full-Disclosure Edition

The very funny Miracle on South Division Street, currently playing at the Seven Angels Theatre in Waterbury, Conn, focuses on the Nowaks, a mother and three adult child who believe that their family has been specially blessed. When certain information comes to light, the Nowaks must reconsider their definitions of family, identity, and miracles. This entertaining, touching, thought-provoking show was written by Tom Dudzick, author of Over the Tavern, Don't Talk to the Actors, and other wonderful plays. (Full disclosure: Tom is my brother-in-law.)

Last weekend, In the Light Theatre presented Adam Bock's relationship comedy, Swimming in the Shallows, in which Bock democratically demonstrates that gay, lesbian, and heterosexual couples all have their challenges and insanities and that most people are all just looking for meaning and love. Swimming in the Shallows is wry and much more surprising than my description would make you think (a shark figures prominently). As smoothly directed by Douglas Hall and well-performed by Laura DiCerto, Michael Edmund, Kathryn Gerhardt, Thomas Gibbons, Lisa Riegel, and Tony Travostino, Swimming in the Shallows was a delightful 90 or so minutes, and I wish the run had been longer than one week. This was the second In the Light Theatre production I've seen, and I look forward to the third. (Full disclosure: Kathy Gerhardt is my friend and Doug Hall directed the short film Second Glance, for which I wrote the screenplay.)