Geva Theatre Center Presents OVER THE TAVERN, 2/15-3/13

From February 15 to March 13, we shuffle off to 1950's Buffalo with Over the Tavern, Tom Dudzick's autobiographical play about his childhood and growing up in his family's small apartment over his father's bar and grill.
 
Chet and Ellen Pazinski live in a cramped apartment above their struggling tavern, trying to raise their four teenage children at the end of the Eisenhower era. Their lives are filled with sibling rivalries, schoolgirl crushes, a strict dad, stricter nuns, spaghetti dinners and Ed Sullivan. Playwright Dudzick taps into his own Buffalo childhood with tremendous reservoirs of the heartfelt sentiment and rollicking humor that can only come from family.
 
Playwright Tom Dudzick is often referred to by critics as "the Catholic Neil Simon." Debuted in 1994, Over the Tavern is the first in a trilogy of plays which Tom Dudzick has written about the Pazinski family.  The second play, King o' the Moon, takes place a decade after Over the Tavern in the turbulent 60's, and the third play , The Last Mass at St. Casimir's, takes place during the infamous blizzard of '77 and completes the family saga.
 
Over the Tavern has broken box office records nationwide and ran for over a year in Chicago where it was hailed by Chris Jones of the Chicago Tribune as "one of the biggest grass-roots successes in American regional theatre of the last few years." The play was recently adapted for Irish audiences as Over the Pub, premiering at Cork Arts Theatre in 2009 and remounted last year, becoming the biggest box office draw in the theatre's history.
 
The ensemble cast features Arnie Mazer as Chet Pazinski, Celia Howard as Sister Clarissa, Brigitt Markusfeld (last seen in the Geva Mainstage as Miss Shields in A Christmas Story) as Ellen Pazinski, and making their debuts in the Geva Mainstage, local young actors Forrest Gertin as Rudy, Jesse Allis as Eddie, Lara Hillier as Annie and Andrew Rondeau as Georgie. 
The production is directed by Skip Greer who has directed such Geva productions as Almost, Maine; Doubt; American Buffalo and more. The design team includes John Iacovelli (Scenic Designer), B Modern (Costume Designer), John Wylie (Lighting Designer) and Dan Roach (Sound Designer).
 
Over the Tavern is co-produced by 13 WHAM TV, Max of Eastman Place and Canandaigua National Bank & Trust.