Greensburg theater troupe’s new show provides humorous life lessons
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Some of the characters are “little jerks,” but that’s part of the appeal of the upcoming production by Greensburg Civic Theatre’s Greasepaint Players, said director Mike Crosby.
In the storyline of “Miss Nelson is Missing,” a classroom of ill-behaved students test the patience of their teacher. When the long-suffering Miss Nelson goes missing, they are inundated by homework and strict discipline from substitute Viola Swamp.
Three performances of the play will be presented Friday and Saturday for both in-person and livestream audiences.
“There’s a lot of innocent humor for both kids and adults to enjoy,” Crosby said. “The humor comes from how hard the kids work to get (Miss Nelson) back.
“Miss Nelson is a nice person; they’re just awful children, really, but they grow up and learn some life lessons,” he said.
“They learn about humility, patience, respect and to appreciate what you have in front of you,” said Scott Meszar of North Huntingdon, who plays Principal Humleker, a character he describes as a mix of cartoon characters Ned Flanders and Baby Huey.
The troupe originally was scheduled to stage “Miss Nelson” last March.
“We had to close down about a week before the production, just about this time last year,” Crosby said. “Most of the cast stuck with us and said they wanted to do it this time around. We have a good group of kids and adults.”
“The entertaining part for me is seeing these kids learn to feed off each other, how much they’ve grown in the past year — and not just physically,” Meszar said.
“This is something the whole family can enjoy,” Crosby said. “We just want to give people a little bit of normalcy. We’re not back to normalcy yet, but things are getting better.“
The cast features Rebecca Gruss of Greensburg as Miss Nelson, Dan Shaffer of Jeannette as Detective McSmogg, Ben Ament of Latrobe as George, Tika Gill of Trafford as Mouse, Tyler Shaffer of Jeannette as Raymond, Gia Petrazio of Latrobe as Phoebe, Sofia Serge of Greensburg as Kimberly, Callie Shirey of Greensburg as Elvis and Ryann Shirey of Greensburg as Lavita. Rachel Painter of Greensburg is stage manager.
Performances are scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Friday and 1 and 4 p.m. Saturday at Greensburg Garden & Civic Center, 951 Old Salem Road.
A limited number of socially distanced seats will be sold, and audiences and actors will wear masks throughout the performance and at all times indoors. There will be no intermission or refreshment sales prior to or during the hour-long show.
Advance tickets are $10 (plus fees); price at the door is $12, subject to availability. Livestream is $12.90 per device.
Details: gctheatre.org