Robert Ierardi's

TALES FROM THE HOOT

Growing Up the Hard Way 12-16-2004 -- Theater: ‘Tales From the Hoot’ Robert Ierardi talks about Hooterville, which is "where you grew up and believed everything you were told," he tells his audience in the Copake Theatre. In Ierardi’s case that place was Plainville, CT, 91 Dallas Ave., to be exact. That’s where his big brother told him the blue light (for the high lights) on the dashboard warned of airplanes; where his mother served supper, not dinner — that’s what rich people called supper -— - at 5:30 every night; where a neighbor’s iguana froze to death and came back to life when his father put the creature into the oven; where his mother could vacuum, watch Jack LaLanne on TV and hear what he was up to all at once; where shoveling driveways, black flies in the woods and tag sales marked the time of year and the only thing worse than rich people were communists. Ierardi is a terrific storyteller and his one-man show "Tales From the Hoot" is a riveting, sad and hilarious tale of suburban, blue-collar life in the ‘60s, a world of Rambler station wagons, peanut butter-and-marshmallow fluff sandwiches and parents who remembered the Depression keenly — his mother was so stingy with the Halloween treats that neighborhood kids pelted the house with eggs every year. Ierardi delivers his stories with energy and charm and ends the evening with Christmas visits to Uncle Al, which were a real treat, like "going to heaven." Uncle Al had a rec room and served the kids pistaccio pudding with Cool Whip. This show is a treat too.

For more information about Tales From the Hoot contact Robert Ierardi at robert@talesfromthehoot.com