 The show features the talents of Scott Hyder, Shana Rebilas Bousard, Judy Rollings, Dolores D'Amore Goldsmith, Michael Fleck and Bob Barr Photo by Mark Gluckman |
On Sunday I saw at Theatre Artists Studio Over the River and Through the Woods - to grandmother's house we go. The play is about a single man, Nick, who lives in Hoboken, NJ and like every good Italian grandson he goes over to grandmother's house every Sunday for a great big Italian dinner. But this time he has to tell his grandparents that he was offered a big promotion at work, and has to move to Seattle, so no more Sunday dinners at grandma's house. The grandparents don't take this news so well, and that's where the play gets really funny when they set out to sabotage his moving plans.
Well, Nick does make the move to the West Coast despite his grandparent's efforts to keep him on the East Coast. After three of his four grandparents pass on, he invites his only living grandmother to come live with him, but she declines to leave the only home she knows. Now that could be another very funny play altogether...taking your grandmother to a new place. I know this well...first hand.
I could relate very well to this play because my husband's Italian family would go every Sunday to grandma's house for the big afternoon Italian supper. When my mother-in-law moved to Scottsdale from Chicago, she took her 81 year old mother with her. Taking a woman who only left Chicago once in her entire life to another place to live can make for a real funny play. I have tons of funny stories about grandma's new adventures living in Scottsdale. One of my favorite stories is when my mother-in-law took her mom with her to one of her friend's house who lives in a guard gated community. When they started to drive up to the guard gate, grandma shouted, "Look! How wonderful. Your friend has a vegetable stand in front of her neighborhood."
