Don’t Blame It on the Stork, the latest play by local playwright Tony Callabretta, is a comedy, or at least that’s what he insists. “Although it doesn’t sound like much of a comedy, it is a comedy,” Callabretta states following a description of what sounds like a harrowing and emotionally difficult plot line.

Don’t Blame It on the Stork follows the trials of protagonist Carmie after the news of her pregnancy and financial constraints provoke her to move into her Italian-Canadian parents’ upstairs duplex with her reluctant husband, Derrick. This marks, what Callabretta calls with a chuckle, “probably the worst decision that they could have ever made.” The ensuing story speaks to the clashes and limits of modern family life, based in the experiences of, but by no means limited to the appeal of the Italian-Canadian community. For its seemingly distressing plot line, Callabretta’s play draws from comedic devices to bring to light the absurdity of achieving a perfectly harmonious family life.

Presented by Pellegrini Productions and directed by Antonio diVerdis, the play depicts newlyweds Carmie and Derrick’s shared re-assessment of the state of their marriage over the course of a week. While Carmie’s parents, Mimmo and Bettina, readily and perhaps excessively extend their help to the newlyweds, Derrick is upset by his compromised autonomy and quick to blame cultural differences with Carmie’s parents for his discomfort. Further distressed by his soon-to-be status as father, Derrick expresses his desire to move out. Carmie believes that Derrick’s objecting behaviour stems from the fact that he is no longer in love with her. Following the failures of Carmie’s brother, Mario, and his sister-in-law, Teresa, to mediate the situation, Carmie is compelled to call upon long-time friend and high-school sweetheart, Lou, whose entrance adds even more complications to the comedic concoction of a plot. As the play unravels, so too do the audience’s understanding of the inherently absurd yet ultimately endearing dysfunctionality of family life.

Don’t Blame It on the Stork is loosely based on Callabretta’s upbringing in an Italian community in Québec. “Most of the characters are Italian,” Callabretta explains. “[Audiences] will recognize themselves, their families, their neighbours and whatnot. The characters are made to be very recognizable.” According to Callabretta, the actors and actresses of the play were cast based on the identity of the characters that they were playing ―some Italian-Canadians born in Québec, and some born in Italy, each compelled to draw from their respective positionalities in their Italian families. The play further picks up on themes from Callabretta’s last highly acclaimed production Damn Those Wedding Bells. The play similarly depicts the comedic dysfunctions of an Italian-Canadian family, although it focuses on the preparation for a wedding and “the insanity that ensues”. The play received ample praise from the public and critics, enjoying two sold-out runs in Montreal are leading English theatre venues, the Centaur Theatre and the Segal Centre. While dealing with themes of the family and the cross-cultural experience, Callabretta describes the underlying basis of all his work as an earnest curiosity to imagine himself in another person’s shoes, stating; “I always wonder how people would react to a certain situation.” The play accordingly imagines how a grown-up daughter comes to terms with filling in her roles as a to-be mother, wife and daughter ―roles that she scrambles with throughout the narrative.

The play will mark Pellegrino Production’s first collaboration with the Leonardo da Vinci Centre, located in Saint-Leonard, Québec. It is anticipated that the play will enjoy an unprecedented 4 to 5 week run, the longest yet at the Leonardo da Vinci Centre. Speaking to the overarching message of the play, Callabretta states; “It all comes down to how you feel about a person, regardless of the circumstances you are put in. If you care about a person and really love them, you’re there for them regardless of what goes on.” The universality of the plot line thus offers plenty of incentive to go out and see the local theatre production. As Callabretta states with gusto; “[the audience] will be thoroughly entertained, moved, they will think, they will feel” as the story touches upon universal themes of love, compromise and the humane messiness that results from it.

See Don’t Blame It on the Stork at the Saputo Theatre at the Leonardo da Vinci Centre from September 15th to October 11th, 2015.