The production provides something to laugh at, as well as be moved by or reflect on in this comedy with a message by Joe DiPietro, directed by Paul Anable and performed by six Coastsiders.
“It’s very much a family play, very moving but pretty funny,” said Anable. “When the audience comes to see it, these are people they’re going to recognize.”
 Photo courtesy Coastal Repertory Theatre From left, Nick (Dominic Falleti,) Caitlin (Dana Washington,) Frank (John R. Martin,) Aida (Gina Giustino,) Nunzio (Don Hughes) and Emma (Marianna Danskin) enjoy a family dinner with a scheme in 'Over the River and Through the Woods.' |
Appalled that Nick would leave the nest like his family before him, his grandparents, in between plying Nick with food and loveable fussing, join in Emma’s plan “to give him a reason” to stay: They invite Caitlin (Dana Washington,) the unmarried niece of one grandmother’s canasta partner, to Sunday dinner.
It’s a recipe for disaster: Caitlin, as a vegetarian, politely refuses the veal main course and Nick is scandalized by his family’s not-so-subtle maneuvering. But as the hilarious meal and its more serious consequences unfold, the play poses thoughtful questions about the nature and cycles of family and just what makes up the heartfelt kernel of life.
The grandparents define life as it was in their simpler day but the priorities are different — and more numerous — for Nick. His final decision crystallizes and redefines a family saga, the bonds of love and shared food, living one’s own life, the good life and sacrifice.
“(Nick) knows he’ll never be his own person till he’s made his own way, but the younger generation needs to understand the value of the paths the elders have already walked,” said Falletti. “Finding your own life doesn’t mean throwing away what came before.”
“This makes me appreciate the older generation and their way of life — simpler,” said Washington. “But when there are so many choices available to you, it’s overwhelming. Where do you begin?”
The close-knit cast ranges from CRT veterans to newcomers to thespians of varied experience.
Local theater veteran Danskin said that with her reserved upbringing, playing an expressive Italian-American was a new experience, but she found the play’s themes familiar. “Seems like all the plays I do now are about letting go,” she said.
Playing her husband, Hughes, who appeared with CRT in “Inherit the Wind” and “The Foreigner,” laughingly said he “sees a lot of myself” in bombastic Nunzio. But what resonates with him here is “how much do we owe the people who raised us, to repay their kindness and love? Can there ever be enough?”
A Coastal Rep newcomer who has been involved in theater “since I could crawl,” Giustino has done this play before along with many comedies, dramas and musicals. “Give me a good Neil Simon and I’m happy,” she said.
She noted that Aida represents “a combination aunt, mother, grandmother. She was not unfamiliar to me at all,” but added that this play, while set in an Italian-American family, “crosses all the ethnic boundaries. These are feelings we can all relate to.”
Martin, as her husband Frank, is new to straight theater but not to opera and choral work: he has sung with the Masterworks Chorale, the Blackhawk Chorus and as a supernumerary with the San Francisco Opera, where he played Mrs. Lincoln in “Appomattox” in the apparition scene. That required “20 minutes to get into costume for 20 seconds onstage.”
“Over the River and Through the Woods” runs at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays from June 6 to 28 at 1167 Main St. in Half Moon Bay. Admission is $15 to $30. For information and reservations, call 569-3266.
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