In the late 1990s, I saw a showcase production of the play - the first of several Paprzycki has written - in New York. Last Rites is a lyrical look at blue-collar urban America, a deeply personal requiem for a lost way of life.
"When the lights come up, you'll be in Walt's Cafe," Paprzycki says. "My grandfather's bar."
A 52-year-old Gloucester City resident, the playwright has fond memories of the corner establishment Walt and Sue Evanuk ran for 30 years.
"I remember drinking orange sodas at the bar," Paprzycki says. "I remember the guys telling stories. And I knew there was a larger story here."
Until the jobs drained away, South Camden and other city neighborhoods were self-contained.
"The neighborhood was where you lived and worked and shopped," Paprzycki says. "It was where you went to school and went to church."
Which brings us to the part about the priest.
Paprzycki is a member of Sacred Heart, where the pastor is Msgr. Michael Doyle, a lover of the written and spoken word.
"I was coming out of church one Sunday," the playwright recalls, "and he says to me, 'Joe, why don't you put on your play right here in the neighborhood?' "
So Paprzycki presented Last Rites in the basement of Sacred Heart, just across the street from the ruins of Walt's Cafe and a few blocks from the remnants of New York Ship.
The productions began in 2003 and became a signature of the South Camden Theatre Company, of which Paprzycki is now the producing artistic director. His work was embraced by local audiences, as well as the Heart of Camden, the respected community-development organization the church established in the 1980s.
