By Town Crier Staff Report

TheatreWorks continues its 32nd season with the Northern California premiere of Joe DiPietro’s “Over the River and Through the Woods.”

The production runs today through Aug. 19 at the Lucie Stern Theater, 1305 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto.

Robert Kelley directs a cast of TheatreWorks veterans in this comedy about four caring, but conniving Italian-American grandparents trying to keep their unmarried grandson close to home.

The play is flavored with intergenerational conflict, matchmaking mishaps and Sunday visits sharing food and family.

Nick Christiano, the 29-year-old marketing executive, is doing triple duty for his parents, who moved to Florida, and his sister who moved to California.

Every Sunday he dutifully eats with both sets of grandparents. When he tells them he has been offered a job in Seattle, the grandparents, in a desperate effort to prevent another long-distance family separation, hatch a matchmaking plot to keep Nick close to home.

Mark Phillips stars as Nick. He has won two Bay Area Theatre Critics’ Circle Awards.

The cast also includes TheatreWorks veterans Linda Hoy, George Ward, Edward Sarafian and Judy Jean Berns.

“Over the River” previews at 8 p.m., today, Thursday and Friday, and opens at 8 p.m., Saturday.

Future evening shows are set for 7:30 p.m., Tuesdays (no show Aug. 14); 8 p.m., Wednesdays through Saturdays; and 7 p.m., Sundays (no show July 22). Weekend matinees are scheduled for 2 p.m., Sunday, July 29, Aug. 4 and 11.

Tickets are $20-$40, with discounts for youths, students, seniors and members.

For tickets and more information, call 903-6000.