If you’re looking for a great evening out, go see Coach House Theatre’s production of “Over the River and through the Woods.” Joe DiPietro’s comedy comes across as charming, and with the right touches of poignancy, to make you leave the theater happy you went, praising what you saw, and feeling the kind of warm comfort that comes with a fine night of theater.

There’s nothing deep and electric about the plot. It’s a story of a young man, Nick (played by Scott Shriner), who has dinner with his four Italian grandparents at one of their New Jersey apartments every Sunday night. He’s the mainstay in their lives, since other family members have moved elsewhere (some to Florida).

As the play opens, Nick has come to tell them of a great opportunity that he has for a job in Seattle – a few thousand miles from them. This sets off a series of events designed to make Nick stay behind. One grandfather, Frank (played by veteran actor Timothy Champion) utters the Italian phrase that should set Nick aright – “tengo famiglia,” a phrase which basically says to hold onto family, but in their terms means so much more – like making sacrifices to preserve the clan.

Their efforts are certainly serious, but in the context of the play (like others in the genre) are cute. Grandmother Aida (Mary Lou Ryan Ianni) plies him with her apparently extraordinary Italian cuisine (which could cause anyone to stick it out if delicious enough). The other grandmother, Emma (Karen L. Wood) goes to the other situation comedy ploy and sets out to find a girlfriend (Caitlin, played by Tara Kodosky) who can interest him enough to forget about his job.

Those parts are played for laughs, and they abound. The single reason that might actually stop Nick from leaving never gets mentioned to him. And that’s that grandfather Nunzio (played by Henry C. Bishop) has cancer and not long to live. It’s here that the poignancy and tugs of the heart come into play. And Mr. Bishop can bring tears to your eyes. He knows how to deliver the lines and underplay the emotion, allowing the audience to fill it all in for him. A superb bit of acting.

Scott Shriner delivers a few pulls on the heart strings himself, when at the end of the play he recites the loss of his grandparents – and the “famiglia” that he cannot hold forever – while gone from their sight.

It’s the emotional depths that playwright DiPietro instills in his characters that makes this seeming light comedy work. Even grandma Emma’s attempts to find a girl and Aida’s overabundance of pasta are delivered with a quality of characterization that lets you know there is genuine and great feeling in their feeble attempts.

DiPietro’s tale needs a strong cast of solid actors, and it gets it in this Coach House production.

“Over the River and through the Woods,” cast. Photo courtesy of Coach House Theatre

The set and staging help to pull the story together as well. There’s the ever-dominant dinner table at stage left, where the tradition that is about to be broken looms large. Down-stage right is the living room where the cozy, tightly-knit family can bring out issues that affect all of them. Upstage right the audience can see the door to the outside world and enough of the stoop for characters to meet and talk about Nick’s impending issue and its resolution.

Joe DiPietro’s “Over the River and through the Woods” will be performed at 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday through October 19 at Coach House Theatre, 732 W. Exchange St., Akron; 330-434-7741; www.coachhousetheatre.com. Tickets are $20 ($12 for students).