WRA to stage Over the Tavern on Feb. 8-10

Western Reserve Academy’s Fine & Performing Arts Department will present Over the Tavern on Feb. 8 and Feb. 9 at 8 p.m., and Feb. 10 at 2 p.m., in the Knight Fine Arts Center.

The play, set in the 1950s, tells the story of the Pazinski family, who have a lot going on in their cramped apartment in Buffalo, N.Y. The family’s youngest son, 12-year-old Rudy, is a smart, wise-cracking kid who begins to question the family’s values and the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church.

As his confirmation date approaches, Rudy decides to take on ruler-wielding Sister Clarissa and announces that he wants to look for a religion that is more fun. The results provide a warm and hilarious look at family, growing up and God.

“I initially saw this play a couple of summers ago and I like it because the characters are younger, which makes it easier for our students to relate,” said Donalee Ong, WRA’s drama teacher and the play’s director. “This is a coming-of-age story so our student audience will really enjoy the play. It would have been easy for the playwright, Tom Dudzick, to make it like a sitcom, but the play deals with a lot of heavier issues – like questioning religion – and each character has their own issue to deal with.”

 The talented cast includes senior Azziz Qadri (Hudson); junior Mitch Pollock (Aurora); sophomore Catherine Berry (Mansfield); and freshmen Gracie Morgan (Hudson), Niraj Naik (Twinsburg), Nick Farrell (Hudson) and Madison Clark-Bruno (Akron). Junior Lauren Kolar (Hudson) will serve as stage manager.

“The cast is working overtime because, with just seven characters, the demand is a lot greater on them,” Ong said. “They really enjoy working with each other and I think the performance is going to be fantastic.”

While the decade of the 1950s evokes a romanticized view made popular by such shows as Happy Days and Leave it to Beaver, the set design for Over the Tavern reflects the middle-class nature of the Pazinskis.

“It is really important for this set to reflect that this is a middle-class family with middle-class problems,” said Mike Peveich, the play’s technical director and a WRA faculty member. “In this play the set is like another character and I want to give the audience a sense of the 1950s and really take them there.”

Peveich’s historic touches can be found all over the set, from the vintage radio and television in the living room, to his choice of appliances and cabinet hardware in the family’s kitchen.

“I want to make it so the audience has a feeling of what the family would have been living in at the time,” he said. “This family would not have had modern appliances, for example, and I want to make sure the set compliments the acting rather than distract from it.”

Tickets are available at the door of each performance. Tickets are $8 for adults, $4 for senior citizens and students, on Friday and Saturday. For Sunday’s matinee performance, tickets are $8 for adults, with free admission for students and senior citizens.

The Knight Fine Arts Center is located at the corner of Aurora and Oviatt Streets. For more information please call the Fine & Performing Arts Department at 330.650.9744, Ext. 6.