"2 try to walk out on Joe Paprzycki's INDOOR PICNIC

This was written by my friend Jumbo Schimpf who is featured in my play "Indoor Picnic" at SCTC for five more shows starting tonight at 8PM. I cried when I read this and I have tears in my eyes now.  "2 try to walk out on Joe Paprzycki's INDOOR PICNIC Last night was Neighborhood Night at South Camden Theatre Company's Waterfront South Theatre, which opened in 2010 and is the first and only professional playhouse in Camden, NJ. Anyone who lives in Waterfront South and wants to see a show can enjoy it, free of charge, on Neighborhood Nights throughout the season. The bill last night was Artistic Director Joe Paprzycki's own Indoor Picnic, a play set in Camden during the 1960s through the early 90s. It witnesses the city's decline and the rampant racism that tore neighbors apart. Seen through the eyes of four members of the Polish Club (Dan Hickey, Edward Monterosso, Eric J. Pederson and Jumbo Schimpf) and the black woman who is their hired help (Zuhairah), the hate, fear, ignorance, and hope of the once-proud city collide. At times, the mirror this play holds up is difficult to look into; the reflections can be disappointing, and show us imagines we shy away from in real life. But as the play offers a chance for redemption at a bus stop, it reminds us that sometimes healing is as simple as that - a smile and a hello - if we have the courage to go that far. During Friday night's performance, 2 patrons saw these reflections and tried to leave during the intermission. They were residents of Camden's Waterfront South neighborhood who had taken advantage of the free ticket offer. Paprzycki, stopped them at the door and asked why they were leaving. Their response was not what the average theatregoer might expect: "We thought it was over." When Paprzycki explained there was still another Act to come, the two neighbors, very embarrassed, apologized. They didn't know. They had never sat through an intermission. They had never been to a theatre before. They returned, happily, for Act II. Indoor Picnic runs through Sunday, November 11. Tickets can be purchased at www.southcamdentheatre.org

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