RAHWAY -- Francesca Rizzo of Rahway talks and acts just like her mother, Grace, relatives have often told her. That will come in handy tonight, when she portrays her in a self-written play.

Donning a red wig and a costume reminiscent of her mother’s glamorous 1970’s style, she takes the stage -- which, for her mother, was no more than the kitchen table in Rizzo’s childhood home -- to tell stories of her mother’s formative years in 1920’s and 1930’s Newark with her brothers and sisters.

"The Cherry Sisters: True Stories from the Kitchen Table," written and performed by Rizzo, 57, is equal parts homage and caricature of a woman who saw Brick City through the eyes of an Italian-American girl coming into her own in a world dominated by family love and economic hardship.

"My mother was a great storyteller," she said. "And the stories she told were really vivid ... and some of them violent and tragic."

Domestic violence, poverty and death are discussed through the recounting of her mother’s younger life. But despite some weighty topics, the play retains its sense of humor -- much like the matriarch who first passed the stories on to her family.

"My mother would tell me how they were so poor growing up, they’d pick up gum off the street to chew, but follow that by singing (the Doublemint Gum theme song)," she recalled, laughing herself at the memory. "She wasn’t a sappy person...so she’d always cut a serious story with a joke, to make it more entertaining -- she was very tough."

Rizzo initially had no intentions of sharing her mom’s stories on stage. But after reading some of them aloud to an acting class she took in the late 1990’s, she found there was a great deal of interest in the stories she recounted.

"People were blown away by her stories ... and I was very emotional when I read them - it was very powerful for me to get those stories out from beyond our kitchen table," she said.

Borrowing from her mother’s model of inner strength, she forged past the emotional hesitations and, over the next few years, developed "The Cherry Sisters" into a full-length show that’s been performed in Cape May and several locations in New York City. The title of the show came from the name of a singing act popular at the time, Rizzo said.

Tonight and through the weekend, she will bring her mother’s stories to the Union County Performing Arts Center in Rahway. She also hopes to bring a pared-down version to organizations that be interested in the family aspect or the issues brought to light by the stories she retells.

Issues aside, this show is about her mother, and the plain-spoken tales she told of her family life. Rizzo said her mother, who passed away in 1988, not only inspired a play, but also her life.

"In many ways she influenced my career - I went on to become a story teller in a lot of different forms, but she was just a natural at it," she said. "She loved to entertain, and just loved talking about life - she was a very dynamic person, and I miss her."

The show opens with a darkened stage and a prerecorded message from Rizzo, the end of which encapsulates the best of what she hopes to do during every performance.

"And now, I’m about to go where few women dare," the voice over tells the audience as the show is about to start. "I’m about to become my mother."

"The Cherry Sisters: True Stories from the Kitchen Table" will be presented at 8 p.m. tonight through Saturday, with a special matinee performance at 3 p.m. this Sunday, in the Studio Theatre of the Union County Performing Arts Center, 1601 Irving Street, in Rahway.

And for more information on Rizzo visit her website at www.francescarizzo.com.

By Candice Leigh Helfand/The Star-Ledger