NUN TOO HAPPY. The Chippewa Valley Theatre Guild’s latest production, Over the Tavern, focuses on a 12-year-old who is shopping around “for a more fun religion.”

If you are looking for a cure for cabin fever, consider attending the comedy Over the Tavern at the Grand Theatre in Eau Claire to get you out and about and laughing.

When 12-year-old Rudy Pazinski, a rebel and Ed Sullivan impersonator, declares that he is not going to be confirmed, Sister Clarissa visits the working-class Pazinski home above the family tavern. Rudy has done his homework. He shares that he has read that “there are over 1,300 religions in the world,” and well, he’d like to “shop around for a more fun religion.”

“While the show offers a window into life in the 1950s, theunderlying themes of the story – questioning family and church values, finding your own voice, forgiveness – will resonate with all audiences.”
– director Deb Brown, on the Chippewa Valley Theatre Guild’s production of Over the Tavern

This is one of several funny scenes in the comedy/drama Over the Tavern which the Chippewa Valley Theater Guild will present over two weekends in January. The playwright, Tom Dudzick, debuted the play in 1994. Based on his life growing up above his own family’s tavern on Seneca Street in Buffalo, N.Y., during the 1950s Eisenhower era, the play could just as well take place in Eau Claire. Father Knows Best – a popular TV show at the time – it is not.

Popular local performers Don and Lois Hodgins play father Chet Pazinski and Sister Clarissa, respectively. Barbara Goings plays wife Ellen Pazinski. Her real-life son Jackson Goings plays 12-year-old Rudy. The other Pazinski siblings are played respectively by Jevin Stengel, Georgie Pazinski; James Goings (brother to Jackson), Eddie Pazinski; and Anna Madson, the lone sister, Annie Pazinski.

Deb Brown, who has performed in numerous Chippewa Valley Theatre Guild productions, is making her directorial debut. “It’s a very funny play that deals with some serious universal issues,” she shared in a phone interview. “It’s a coming-of-age story from a 12-year-old’s point of view in the 1950s, but, it could just as well be nowadays.

“While the show offers a window into life in the 1950s, the underlying themes of the story – questioning family and church values, finding your own voice, forgiveness – will resonate with all audiences,” she continued. “Catholics, especially older folks who were taught by nuns, will appreciate the Sister Clarissa character.”

Taking a play from auditions to performance is a group process, according to Brown. “Besides having a wonderful cast – who are working hard to flesh out their characters beyond the words on the page, I have an outstanding assistant director, Cass Lamb, a host of technicians to create the lights, sound, sets, and props, of that era,” she said.

Chippewa Valley Theater Guild’s production of Over the Tavern • Jan. 8-10 and 15-17, 7:30pm, and Jan. 11 and 18, 1:30pm • Grand Theatre, 102 W. Grand Ave., Eau Claire • $20 adults, $18 seniors, $10 youth/military • (715) 832-7529 • www.cvtg.org