Opening Friday, November 3, 2006 at Theatre Jacksonville’s Harold K. Smith Playhouse, Over the Tavern is an irreverently intelligent tale seen through the eyes of Rudy Pazinski, a precocious 12-year-old boy who’s starting to question family values and the Roman Catholic Church. When Rudy decides to explore his options, Sister Clarissa (Gayle Featheringill) is fit to be tied over the boy’s salvation.
Meet the Pazinskis. Chet (David Sacks) worries about his job. Ellen (Shelly Higgins Hughes) worries about raising the kids. Annie (Miranda Lawson) worries about boys liking her. Eddie (Tyler Ross) worries about being a man. Georgie (Jack Richards) worries about nothing. And Rudy (Jake Higdon) worries about whether Catholicism is right for a twelve-year-old boy who spends the majority of his time impersonating Ed Sullivan. The Pazinskis are just your average American family in the 1950’s, and Over the Tavern hits home for anyone who’s ever wondered why their family is not like the ones they see on TV.
Often referred to by theatre critics as “the Catholic Neil Simon,” playwright Tom Dudzick was born in Buffalo, NY (over a tavern) in 1950. He dipped into his own childhood, semi-fictionalized his family, called them the Pazinskis, and turned Over the Tavern into what Chris Jones of the Chicago Tribune calls, “one of the biggest grass-roots successes in American regional theatre of the last few years.” Mr. Dudzick has also created a series of semi-autobiographical comedies that have played successfully in theatres from New York to Los Angeles and a hundred cities in between. His plays have broken the box office records at Buffalo Studio Arena, Pittsburgh Public Theatre, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis and Chicago’s Northlight Theatre.
Performances of Over the Tavern are scheduled for November 3, 4, 10, 11, 17, 18 at 8:00 pm, November 9 and 16 at 7:30 pm and November 5 and 12 at 2:30 pm. All performances will be at The Harold K. Smith Playhouse at 2032 San Marco Blvd. Tickets for Over The Tavern are $20.00 for Adults and $15.00 for Seniors, Students and Military at select performances. Call (904) 396-4425 or online at www.theatrejax.com/boxoffice.
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