The holidays, of course, are quickly approaching, and what would the holidays be without family?

Well, face the facts, for some of us they'd be a whole lot easier to get through, that's what. So if you find yourself in need of a preseason refresher course on the joy and the love behind the exasperation of having relatives -- or if you just enjoy a moving story exceptionally well presented -- you owe it to yourself to see "Over the River and Through the Woods," the final production of the 2007 season at the Gaslight Theater in Hallowell.

The play, written by Joe DiPietro and originally presented 10 years ago on the New York stage, relates the sometimes hilarious, sometimes heartbreaking tale of two sets of Italian-American grandparents in Hoboken and the grandson whom they love so deeply they made it possible for him to become someone they don't know.

Without revealing the plot, it's a story about beginnings and endings, about holding on and letting go, love and fear, responsibility and dreams, sacrifice and reward. And, oh yes, about food.

In fact, if you don't leave the auditorium ready to kill for a cannoli, you can't have been paying attention.

The principal actors are experienced and highly talented, projecting an apparently effortless chemistry without which a comedy/drama about a closely knit family would be utterly unbelievable.

Tom Dix, as Nick, the grandson, has the broadest emotional ground to cover, and he pulls it off admirably. His are the eyes through which we examine some of our own attitudes, expectations and illusions, and we couldn't ask for a better guide.

The grandparents -- Mark Nadeau, Margaret Harvey, Larry Vinal and Lynn Twitchell -- are thoroughly convincing as two couples who have been married for 60 years.

Each character has one foot in the old world and one in the new, which is a source from which much of the play's humor and most of Nick's headaches are mined.

As mentioned, they work smoothly as an ensemble, but each has his or her own moment to give flesh and soul to the individual character.

Nadeau's monologue about bidding farewell to his brother during the Korean War is especially poignant, as is Twitchell's narration of the final events of the play, heart-tugging and yet devoid of self-pity.

It would be easy for any of these characters to reduce himself to a caricature, but all four of these actors come nowhere near that trap, creating instead four distinct, believable and endearing individuals.

On the other side of the ledger, I have made this observation in another context, but if one is going to produce a play that calls for dialect, then the actors should be correctly directed in dialect.

One gets the feeling that the older characters are supposed to be speaking with Italian-American accents, but one is never quite sure. One of them sounds more as though he's doing a Norwegian bachelor farmer from Lake Wobegon than a son of Italy.

As is frequently the case, accents are not essential to the heart of the play, but if you're going to do them, don't do them halfway.

But on the scorecard, this would go as an error on the manager and not on the players.

The key, thematic phrase used in the play is "Tengo Familia" which, as one of the grandfathers explains, means literally "I support the family" but really connotes pride and identity in possessing and providing for a family. But the Italian verb "tenere" can also mean "to keep" or "to hold," so that the phrase then becomes "I keep the family; I hold the family."

And that, ultimately, is what the play is about. Keeping and holding the family deep within one's heart, despite the slings and arrows that life throws at it. That's not a bad message to ponder going into the Holidays, nor at any other time of year, really.

The Gaslight Theater is located inside Hallowell City Hall at 1 Winthrop St. Remaining performances are Nov. 3, 9, 10 at 8 p.m. and Nov. 8 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets $10, cash or check, at the door. For mor information, call 626-3698.

Ken Ganza is an actor and writer. He lives in Waterville..