by Kaitlyn Palividas
began to really cultivate my passion for theater in high school. During those years I really began to expand my love of the craft by reading as many plays as possible. One of my favorite shows hands down is Joe DiPetrio’s Over the River and Through the Woods. I wrote a play report about the show in Varsity Production class. The play follows the life of Nick, an Italian-American living in New Jersey. When his parents retire and decide to move to Florida, his four grandparents decide it is time to take Nick’s love life into their own hands.
These Italian-Americans are exactly how you’d expect them to be; their lives revolve around their family and food. So when Aida, Frank, Emma and Nunzio decide to set Nick up with Caitlin, it only made sense for the encounter to happen over dinner with all four grandparents. Things do not go quite as planned and the tension in very apparent during the meal, leading to a panic attack for Nick. Photo from a production at John W. Engeman Theater
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DiPetrio utilizes dinner to juxtapose the conversations taking place. The grandparents clearly want their grandson to find a wife but they take things a little too far. Food creates interesting dialogue because the characters are relying on the dinner to move the plot along. Food plays an important role in this script, as apparent from the show's poster. Even the 1844 poem from which the play takes its name references food.
Over the river, and through the wood--
When Grandmother sees us come,
She will say, "O, dear, the children are here,
bring a pie for everyone."
Over the river, and through the wood--
now Grandmother's cap I spy!
Hurrah for the fun! Is the pudding done?
Hurrah for the pumpkin pie!
-Over the River and Through the Woods by Lydia Maria Child, 1844