Don't expect old-fashioned dinner theater from La Verna. The typical combination of cheesy dancing and sub-par buffet has no place in this town.

How about a fast-paced sex farce and a gourmet dinner instead?

Pamela Monk, a professor in the College of Communications, decided it was due time to introduce an exciting dinner theater production to State College. Starting Thursday, local organization Original Theater Works will present Monk's play, La Verna.

After writing many plays as part of Original Theater Works, Monk decided she wanted to bring something new and interesting to the community.

"I write funny plays, but this is the first play where I don't have to explain my jokes," she said.

La Verna tells the story of a straight-laced American woman who goes to Italy hoping to discover herself, but her equally conservative husband follows. Mayhem ensues as they become entangled with a free-thinking and sexually-liberated Bohemian couple.

Director Susan Riddiford described the comedy as "fast and furious." A professional actress who has worked on Broadway, Riddiford said she believes the play's witty repartee and misadventures will result in a great success.

"[The audience] expects to be entertained, and they will be entertained," Riddiford said.

Monk said she wrote the play to address the problem that parts offered to middle-aged women are not exciting.

"All the plays where women are older, they tend to be grandmas," she said. "So I started writing this play with her just deciding to go to Italy. This is her, there."

With Diane Keaton currently receiving critical acclaim for her stereotype-breaking role in Something's Gotta Give, offering strong parts for women seems to be a new trend. State College resident Bonnie DeChant, who stars as the American woman in La Verna, deems it a privilege to have more interesting roles available.

"I usually get the 'mother' of someone," DeChant said. "This lets you be not just in the background, taking on what the children's lives are about."

DeChant said she supposes her character is going through a mid-life crisis, wanting to explore another part of herself. While she said the "adventures get a little carried away," the experience ultimately changes her in a positive way.

"It alters the relationship she has with her husband," she said. "In general, sexual exploration is not the medicine taken to fix a marriage."