MIRACLE WORKER

Scott Shallenbarger directs Miracle on South Division Street, a warm-hearted, holiday-centric play at Citadel Theatre in Lake Forest.

Scott Shallenbarger’s holiday card to family, friends, and theater lovers this year won’t fit in a post office mailbox. A stage play—he’s directing Citadel Theatre’s Miracle on South Division Street—needs considerably more room than that. “I can’t wait to send my ‘card’ this holiday season,” says the amiable, impassioned Shallenbarger of the heartfelt comedy that’s set on Christmas Eve and features four relatable members of the Nowak family of Buffalo, New York. The play spotlights family, faith, hilarious truths, and forgiveness.

Legend has it that in 1943, the Virgin Mary appeared before the family patriarch, a barber, and gave him a message to spread world peace. The haircutter fashioned a 17-foot-tall statue of the Blessed Mother and placed it outside the family home. Citadel Theatre’s 90-minute, no-intermission production—written by Tom Dudzick, a native of Buffalo—also includes a twist via a deathbed confession that will put pretzels worldwide to shame. The Nowak kitchen serves as the play’s lone setting at the Lake Forest venue.

“It’ll be incredibly entertaining,” promises Shallenbarger, a Highland Park resident and the former longtime director of the Highland Park High School (HPHS) theater department. “And I wonder,” he writes in his director’s note, “Is this the only miracle on South Division Street? Is the word ‘miracle’ limited to holy sightings?” Divisiveness in the world pains Shallenbarger. Storytelling has the power to heal, he strongly believes.

“Is it a miracle when we choose to be curious about what we don’t understand, versus disparaging the unfamiliar?” continues the 2017 Golden Apple Award winner in his director’s note. “Is it a miracle when someone opens their heart and offers unconditional acceptance? Perhaps it is a miracle when we offer our light to someone walking in their darkness.”

Shallenbarger walked the halls of Woodstock High School and performed in high school and community theater plays as a teen before honing his craft at Illinois State University (undergrad) and Northwestern University. He retired from his post at HPHS in 2023, after 33 years. “Loved every second of my time there,” says Shallenbarger, now a freelance director who also mentors young theater teachers.

“There’s such a great arts scene on the North Shore, along with the commitment to arts education.” His favorite season? The one that lets him utter “‘Tis,” followed by, “the.” It’s the season of light. Shallenbarger, like the poet Rumi, insists there’s inner brilliance in all of us—brilliance that’s capable of heartening others. Wrote Rumi, in the 13th century: “If everything around seems dark, look again: You may be the light.”

When A Miracle on South Division Street ends and audience members enter the lobby and linger, what does Shallenbarger hope to see in every corner? “People hugging,” he says.

Miracle on South Division Street runs through December 14, at Citadel Theatre, 300 South Waukegan Road, Lake Forest. For showtimes and ticket information, visit citadeltheatre.org or call 847-735-8554.