| Cast:
Frank
- Fred Sauers
Nick - Rob Nardini
Aida - Paulette Sarussi
Caitlin - Stephanie Robey
Nunzio - Kevin McGrath
Emma - Arlene Page
About
the Play
By Jim Hannigan
Dante tells us that the Gates of Hell
are labeled, "Lasciate ogni speranza,
voi ch'entrate," which means,
"Abandon all hope, you who enter
here." Nick Cristano might have heeded
these words if he thought, for an instant,
that he would be able to pop in to his
grandparents’ home, make an important
announcement, and leave soon, without
eating. There was no chance of that happening,
for that would not be the way of his famiglia,
or "family". His attempts to
do just this, however, provide the hilarious
opening to Over the River and through
the Woods. This is a play about family,
traditions, and love and the struggle
that Nick makes to both love his family
and yet live as an individual. His attempts
to make American choices and remain a
part of an Italian family provide the
tensions that drive this funny and touching
play. Can Nick make this career decision
without being meddled, advised, wed, and
fed to death?
Overrun since pre-history by the Greeks,
Phoenicians, Romans, Normans, Spaniards,
various types of Goths, and today by tourists,
the Italians kept things together through
the strength of the family. United against
outsiders, la famiglia nurtured,
protected, and provided. The individual
was measured by their role in the family,
and to live without, or apart from one’s
family was not often possible. To maintain
a family was the proudest and most challenging
task for the Italian male. "Tengo
famiglia," literally, "I
hold a family," is a statement of
pride and responsibility, a mantra of
duty. But Nick, the second generation
born in America, doesn’t see it that way.
His parents have abandoned the field and
fled to retirement in Florida, leaving
Nick to be the good grandson, having dinner
with his grandparents every Sunday, and
putting up with their idiosyncrasies and
the behaviors that drive him to distraction.
So Nick is going to take a job and move
out of town, but not without la famiglia
trying to hold him, and themselves, together.
His grandmother arranges that a single
girl, Caitlin, come to dinner, and perhaps
if a match is made, Nick will abandon
this crazy idea of leaving the family.
The character of Caitlin is Nick’s mirror.
She finds his family’s behavior charming
and entertaining, and she finds Nick’s
intolerance of them, well, intolerable.
With this new perspective Nick sees his
family as people, no longer as a unified
force of food and quirky behavior meant
to obstruct his will to be an individual.
And la famiglia, they also come
to see Nick as a man, not frozen in time
as "the grandson," but as a
man who "tiene famiglia,"
who has a family, who is a man, and who
has a reason to be alive.
"Over the River and Through the
Woods" debuted at the John Houseman
Theater in New York in 1998.
About the
Author
Born in New Jersey in 1960, Joe DiPietro
tried first to write sketch comedy. He
got his break in 1992 when he met producer
Jimmy Roberts and teamed up to write the
long-running off-Broadway musical, "I
Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change."
This show would open in more than 150
cities and has been called "a battle
of the heterosexes" by the New York
Post. Mr. DiPietro has also written a
"new Gershwin" musical, abstracting
elements of a 1926 musical, "Oh,
Kay!" into "They all
Laughed." He has been commissioned
by the Elvis Presley estate to write a
musical incorporating popular Presley
songs. He received the 1997 William Inge
Festival award for "New Voices in
American Theater," and the National
Playwright’s conference "MacArthur"
award for comic writing.
In this play Mr. DiPietro has used his
real grandparents as source material for
his characters, but the action of the
play is fictional.
Acknowledgments:
Produced
by special arrangement with Dramatists
Play Service, Inc.
Special
Thanks:
Angela McCrea for the use of the religious
items.
Jack Uretsky for the use of his mandolin.
More Photos
Page 2
Page 3
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Synopsis:
Get ready to laugh out loud as Nick,
a young, single Italian-American from New
Jersey announces his great promotion to
both sets of his grandparents, whom he visits
for dinner every Sunday. As the grandparents
cook, conspire and cajole to get him to
stay, Nick gets to know and love them even
more. From the author of I Love You,
You're Perfect, Now Change.
Production Credits:
Guest Director, Todd
Schmidt
Technical Director, Shelley Dotson
Stage Manager, George Dempsey
Assistant Stage Manager, Linda Roberts
Costume Designer, Lori B. Proksa
Costume Crew, Linda Auer, Peggy Carlson,
Carol Clarke, Mary Dempsey, Sharon Feldt,
Linda Metz, Mary Pavia, Ginny Richardson,
Sandy Sheibley, Helen Smith, Julie Suarez,
Mary Van Nest, Nancy Whitlock
Dramaturg, Jim Hannigan
Lighting Designer, Cal Turner
Lighting Crew, Judy Divita, Sue Kuehnhold,
Mike Mallon, Amanda Ragan, Paul Roach,
David Swain
Makeup Designer, Mary Ellen Druyan
Makeup Crew, Carol Hudson, Eileen Crow,
Nancy Belda, Lori D'Asta, P.K. Parker,
Doreen Douvris
Program Editor, Mary Maureen Gentile
Program Crew, Alison Burkhardt, Cheri
Campbell, Joan Szeremeta
Properties Designer, Pat Huth
Properties Crew, Mike Huth, Donna Kanak,
Jenny Maurer, James Moreno, Donna Sauers,
Clark Schirle, Julie Suarez, Dick Traut
Set Designer, Bill Rotz
Set Construction, Bill Rotz
Set Construction Crew, Mike Huth, Sharon
Feldt, Frank Kresz, Anne Cahill, Al Dreifke,
Mark Hewitt, Paul
Roach, Noel Smith, Jon Mills, George Dempsey,
Fred Sauers, Kirby Harris,
Rick Ptacek
Set Painting Chair, Jane Bowers
Set Painting Crew, Bryon Abramowitz, Tricia
Boren, Peggy Carlson, Shelley Dotson,
Mary Maureen Gentile, Angelee Johns, Carin
Klock, Mary Pavia, Susan Remy, Sandy Squillo,
Tony Vezner
Sound Designers, Charlie Egan, Liz Egan
Sound Crew, Peggy Jacoby, Peg O'Brien
Production Box Office Chair, Mary Ellen
Schutt
Production Box Office Crew, Susan Cardamone,
Ruth Cekal, Janet Ryan Grasso, Terry Kozlowski,
JoAnn Mallon, Jill Neely, Carol Suda,
and Marilyn Wilson
Production Group Sales, Karen Holbert
Production House Managers, Dave Bremer,
Mike DeKovic, Joe Delaloye, Jim Dutton,
Karen Holbert, Roland Imes, Jon Mills,
Bill Rotz, Bill Wilson
Production Lobby Photo Display, Marjorie
Mason Heffernan, Jane Stacy
Production Posters, Kathleen Kusper
Production Publicity Chair, Bridget Bittman
Production Advertising Sales, Cheri Campbell
Production Website, Judy DiVita
Artistic Director, Tony Vezner
Director’s
Corner
"How
much do you owe those who care for you?
How can you repay someone for their devotion?
Can it ever be enough?"
- Nick from
Over the River and Through the Woods
Nick asks those questions
about the debt he owes his family as he
considers taking a job and moving 2,000
miles away. They are questions that echo
in my life and I assume many others. Nick
is torn between the excitement of a new
job in Seattle and the familiarity of
staying close to his loving grandparents.
Today it seems rare that people live by
or with their family. Should he stay or
should he go? It’s a tough decision.
I live in Chicago and
my nearest blood relative is my sister
in Atlanta, Ga. I have a brother in California
and two sisters and a mother in southern
Florida. We don’t see each other that
often and I wish I could say we spoke
frequently, but more and more it seems
we connect only on holidays and birthdays.
I never grew up living near any relatives
except for my parents and siblings. I
have developed another kind of "family,"
one that is made up of good friends, a
partner and his family.
In contrast, my mother
grew up living next door to her paternal
grandparents and two houses away from
her uncle’s family. Her mother’s parents
lived in the next small town 15 miles
away. She spent time with them every week.
She grew up with a sense of family that
I have never known. Family surrounded
her. I have always envied her childhood.
I’m sure the reality of it wasn’t perfect,
but the idea of it is very appealing to
me.
My parents moved away
from their families because work took
them to another part of the country. And
I have made the same choice. My parents
worked very hard to give my siblings and
me a better life. I am sure my grandparents
did the same for my parents. But is success
only measured in financial terms? As we
leave our families for a "better"
life what do we leave behind? As Emma
says in the play, "So did we make
a better life for you? It’s not a worse
life. But better? Just different, maybe."
Todd Schmidt
Director
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