Jul 21, 2006 By Jean Lohr For The 3 min read

Need an evening out? Need to just get away and put your worries behind you for a few hours? Marty Schiff thinks he has the perfect answer to your problem. Every Friday in July, “Amish Burlesque” will be staged at the State Theatre Center for the Arts in downtown Uniontown.

“‘Amish Burlesque’ is a great night of entertainment,” Schiff said. “It is so much fun, and so different. … I just love it.”

He thinks patrons will feel the same way.

“Amish Burlesque” is a two-act musical comedy featuring Jessica Berson, Suzanna Fox and Missy Moreno.

Berson, Fox and Moreno as well as “Amish” creator Brian Edward Leach and even Schiff are alumni of Point Park College.

So this is a chance to let local theater shine.

Schiff, the executive director of the theater, is always interested in keeping the lights on. That was and remains one of his main goals.

“‘Amish Burlesque’ is an original production that keeps the theater open more days,” he said. “It also provides an opportunity for local talent to do professional work.”

Sponsored by 30 East Main restaurant, the cabaret-style production “is fun, irreverent – in a family safe way – and very creative,” said Schiff, who also dabbles in the arts. His resume includes stints on stage, screen and television.

Schiff said Leach, who created the piece and Emmy-award winning Jace Vek who wrote the musical score “have done a wonderful job.”

“‘Amish Burlesque’ is a riotous composite of devilishly discreet parodies and musical numbers that lampoon Broadway’s finest musical theater,” according to the press release. From ‘Gypsy’ to ‘Cabaret,’ from Cher to Elton John, no one and nothing is safe. Schiff said that even “Fiddler on the Roof” is fair game.

“Amish Burlesque” was first written as a 10-minute sketch for one of the comedic cabarets in the Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts. Leach wrote and produced it in the late 1900s. “It is certainly not our intent to make fun of the Amish,” Leach said, “(but) rather the play makes fun of our perceptions of the Amish.”

After he adapted it to the bigger stage, and created two acts, it received fabulous reviews in the Pittsburgh area.

The production that features Goody Plenty and the Amlets continues at 8 p.m. today and July at the State Theatre.

Schiff hopes audiences will allow “Jebadiah and the girls” to entertain and thrill them through songs, dances and “an occasional flash of bare ankle.”

“It really is a great night out,” Schiff concluded.

Michelle Simpson, general manager of 30 East Main, said she’s gotten a lot of great reviews about the new production – “Amish Burlesque” – that is currently showing Fridays at the State Theatre Center for the Arts in Uniontown.

“We had a very nice crowd last week,” Simpson said. “Everyone thought it was really funny and they really had a good time.”

30 East Main, across the street from the theater, is sponsoring the two-act musical, and is offering dinner-and-a-show package. “We hope patrons will come in for an early dinner and then afterwards come back over for appetizers and cocktails or dessert and coffee,” she said. “We serve until 11:15 p.m. … and Friday nights we have live entertainment.”

To reserve tickets or for more information about “Amish Burlesque,” contact the box office at the State Theatre Center for the Arts in Uniontown at 724-439-1360 or 1-800-397-2554. Or visit the box office at 27 E. Main St., Uniontown

For more information or to purchase dinner-and-a-show tickets, call 30 East Main at 724-430-6246.