Holiday Theater Performance in Worthington this Weekend

 

by Jonathan Weaver

Armstrong Community Theater’s fifth production of the year hopes to relate to local families’ struggles during the holiday season.

With its seven-member cast, “Seasonal Allergies” will take audiences from Thanksgiving Day through New Year’s Eve during this weekend’s three performances.

Jeecy Oesterling, of Cowansville portrays “Alison Cusimano,” a pregnant lawyer who is invited to the Shelby Family household with her husband, “J.D.” for a “family and friends” Thanksgiving dinner.

Jeecy described the show’s plot, revolving around Julia Shelby’s younger brother “Pete Dumbowski.”

“Pete’s not in a great place – his marriage had been crumbling for a while. (The play) is right at the tail end of it, right when he’s signing the divorce papers and it’s actually hitting him pretty hard, so all the other characters want to see him be happy again,” Jeecy said.

Part of the way “Alison” tries to make “Pete” happy is by pushing neighbor “Emily Cantwell” (played by Karissa Lloyd, of Vandergrift) in his direction after she catches his eye.

“They see what a good match “Emily” would be for him, so they’re just trying to push him toward it,” Jeecy said.

Lloyd said “Emily Cantwell” – one of the Shelby Family neighbors -meets Dumbowski and young Charlie while Charlie’s parents are shopping the morning of Black Friday.

“She gets to meet the neighbors in a very interesting twist,” Lloyd said.

The actor who portrays “Dumbowski” (Damien Pezzuti, of Rimersburg) will actually be making his Armstrong Community Theater debut.

Pezzuti, who has not been on-stage since high school, shared that a simple Internet search led him to the major role.

“I Googled local theater places, came across (Armstrong Community Theater) and (Butler Little Theatre). This was a little closer for me, so when I saw (Armstrong) had auditions, I thought I’d come audition for a role,” Pezzuti said. “I’ve done film acting – small film – and I did a commercial, but this is my first time doing theater acting. I wanted to try it out.

“This is the first organized theater for me, so I’m really looking forward to it.”

Jeecy is happy to be playing with the new actors.

“Really excited to have them. They’re good guys, good actors – it’s been a lot of fun,” Jeecy said. “I think they fit in pretty well.”

The Fall play might also be the first of many for one child actor – Jeecy’s 11-year-old son, C.J.

“We’ve done a lot of variety shows together, but otherwise, it is the first,” Jeecy said.

C.J. – a sixth-grader at West Hills Intermediate – has only been seen before in children’s musicals each summer. His largest role was as “Tiny Bear” in “Princess Whatsername” a few years ago, but he was also in “Beauty and the Beast” this past Summer.

C.J is able to perform in three more children’s musicals.

Director Paul Wright said C.J really adds to the performance

“A lot of the plays we pick don’t have children in them,” Wright said. “We thought at first it was probably going to be a bit of a challenge, but (C.J.) is very articulate, very easy to understand. He learns everything very quickly. Very smart kid.”

Jeecy’s daughter, Jae, is also stage manager this weekend – something Jeecy was involved in as a teenager.

Caitlin Welton, of Worthington, said a lot of families go through similar ‘obstacles’ during the holiday season – just like her character “Julia Shelby” does.

“Holidays can be stressful – there’s always something that goes on,” Welton said. “The holidays can bring out the best and the worst in us sometimes.”

Welton said she can also relate to “Julia” in real-life – being also a mother of toddlers.

“She’s very meticulous; everything has to be a certain way. And there’s always someone that spoils it,” Welton said.

Tickets are available at the Quality Inn Royle in West Kittanning, Worthington Community Library – coincidentally located beside the Worthington Civic Center and at the main door the night of each performance. Each ticket is $10.

The show begins at 7:30PM Friday and Saturday, and 2PM Sunday.

A concession stand will be available inside the auditorium.

Wright forecasted that next year, the Fall theater schedule will include a variety of one acts and Christmas music.

No Comments

No comments yet.

RSS feed for comments on this post.

Leave a comment

You must be logged in to post a comment.