Hampton Theatre Company Kicks Off the Season With Intergenerational Family Comedy

With the holidays on the horizon, the Hampton Theatre Company is set to kick off its season this week with “Over the River and Through the Woods,” a comedy by Joe DiPietro based on family, career changes and big moves.

The play centers around Nick Cristano (Patrick Osborne), a young advertising professional in New York City who is offered a promotion in Seattle, which will take him away from his doting Italian grandparents in New Jersey, Frank (Carl DiModugno) and Aida Gianelli (Amelia Chiaramonte), and Nunzio (George A. Loizides) and Emma Cristano (Catherine Maloney).

Soon after they learn of their grandson’s intentions to move to the West Coast, the heartbroken grandparents hatch a plan to convince him to stay by setting him up on a blind date with Catlin (Meg Hrinkevich).

“The grandparents try to play out this plot that they’ve set up and the results are not what they expected,” Loizides, who is also a co-director and set designer on the project, said. “It’s a very funny play. It’s a terrific family comedy, in that respect.”

Italian heritage is another focal point of the play, added Loizides, with reference to the “old country,” and Frank recalling his own father putting him on a boat and sending him to America.

Though audiences will have to see the play for themselves to learn whether or not Nick ultimately decides to go to Seattle, Loizides noted that “There will be poignant moments as a result of the decision.”

While this show was initially scheduled to open on October 20, HTC had to delay the launch for a week after a cast member contracted COVID-19.

“We are making this decision out of an abundance of caution, as our highest priority is to provide a safe environment for our cast, crew, volunteers, and audience,” HTC president Roger Moley, who is co-directing the show with Loizides, explained in a statement. “While we regret any inconvenience to theatre-goers, we’re confident they will understand and respect our decision.

“We remain excited about bringing this funny and poignant play to live audiences in the weeks ahead.”

Loizides added that anyone who had purchased a ticket for the initial opening week had been contacted about rescheduling.

Rehearsals for the show kicked off on September 19, and the play had to halt operations for a week due to the exposure. Now, the team is back to rehearsing, with masks in place as a precaution. Despite the disruption, Loizides is confident the team is in good shape, less than a week out from the opening night.

“I have a good cast,” Loizides said, noting he has worked with three of the main cast members in the past, but was recently introduced to Osborne and Meg Hrinkevich, who plays Caitlin, and was cast from a group of 10 women who auditioned for the role.

“It’s been fun. It’s always fun,” Loizides said. “It’s a little hectic, acting and directing. I’m so lucky to have Roger as my co-director because he is my set of eyes when I’m on stage, so he sees things and, takes notes. We're working as a team and that’s good to have.”

As a teacher at Ward Melville High School in Setauket for 27 years always building the production set for shows, and having taken a course in set design from Southampton College in the 1970s, Loizides was well prepared to design the set for this show. He said he focused on Mediterranean colors and Italian decor to make the project come to life.

“If I wasn’t in the show, I would have helped build it also because I enjoy the construction as well, but I just couldn’t work seven days a week,” he said.

Loizides is also on the company’s artistic committee and was involved in selecting the show, which previously ran 800 performances at the John Houseman Theatre in New York from 1998 to 2000.

He said he was drawn to the show after seeing it done by another community group, in part because there are four roles for older people, a rarity in the theater. However, what drew Loizides to the show, even more, was the strong familial theme, intergenerational dynamics and the reality of the inner heartbreak that can occur when children and grandchildren move away from home.

“It’s something I think every ethnicity and family can relate to in some way,” he said.

The show is also aimed toward families, and the theater is encouraging people to bring their children.

“There’s no bad language, you know, it’s a good family thing,” said Loizides, who admitted that HTC is still struggling to recover from the effects of the pandemic. He hopes the show will be the beginning of people coming back out to see live theater.

“People are still leery, I think, to come back to the theater, or they’ve gotten out of the habit of coming,” said Loizides.” I’m hoping once it opens and the word of mouth gets out, it’ll draw more people to the theater for us.”

Hampton Theatre Company’s production of “Over the River and Through the Woods” runs October 27 to November 13 at Quogue Community Hall, 125 Jessup Avenue, Quogue, Thursdays and Fridays at 7 p.m., Saturdays at 8 p.m., and Sundays at 2:30 p.m. An additional matinee will be held Saturday, November 5. A talkback with the cast will take place after the November 4 performance, for people to ask the cast questions or provide comments. There is a 15-minute intermission, and the show runs for just under two hours. Tickets are $36 ($31 seniors, $20 students) at hamptontheatre.org or 631-653-8955.