Eleven-year-old Peter Tison thinks the most challenging part of playing Rudy in the play “Over the Tavern” wasn’t doing impressions of Ed Sullivan, but getting a haircut.

“I had to cut my hair and make it look like the ’50s and I didn’t want to do that,” he says.

Tison, who has done several children’s theater performances since the age of 9, will make his debut on the main stage of the Des Moines Playhouse when “Over the Tavern” premieres at 8 p.m. Friday. The play is a comedy set in the 1950s about a boy named Rudy who lives with his Polish Catholic family above the bar they own.

John Viars, director of “Over the Tavern,” says the play is different than most because it is told from the point of view of a child. He says Rudy is feeling pressured by the doctrine he is learning in his Catholic school and rebels with all sorts of antics.

“He’s a young man developing his own sense of the world,” Viars says. “He challenges the authority of his teacher and his parents.”

Judy Blessington plays Rudy’s teacher, Sister Clarissa. She says the fact that the audience is looking through a child’s eyes makes it more interesting.

“You’re brought back to a 12-year-old’s thoughts. I think that’s where the humor comes in and some of the more serious moments,” she says.

Tison says he didn’t know who Ed Sullivan was until his audition. The actors auditioning for the part were shown a movie of the talk show host before their auditions to know how to do impressions of him.

“I never heard of him before,” Tison says. “Once I saw the movie, I could see what he did.”

Although the adults involved with the play think Rudy makes the play humorous, Tison says he thinks the funniest parts involve Rudy’s older brother’s “girlie magazines.”

In the play, Rudy comes head-to-head with Sister Clarissa by questioning everything she does.

Blessington says her Catholic upbringing has, in some ways, made it harder to portray a nun.

“If you’ve had nuns [as teachers], you know they are not all like that,” she says. “There are a lot of stereotypes that go with it. You have to remember this took place in the 50s when nuns were still in full habit. Their teaching methods were more disciplined and punishment could be doled out.”

Tison says he’d be scared if he had Sister Clarissa as a teacher in real life.

“If I had her, I’d think she was really mean,” he says.

Blessington says the play will appeal to all audiences because most people have had conflict with a teacher.

“It will appeal to anyone who’s had not only a Catholic upbringing, but anyone who’s met a teacher that they have come head-to-head with,” she says.

Viars says the nostalgia will make the play more interesting for baby boomers.

What: “Over the Tavern”

Where: The Des Moines Playhouse, 831 42nd St., Des Moines

When: 8 p.m. Oct. 22, 23, 29, 30, Nov. 5 & 6; 2 p.m. Oct. 24, 31, & Nov. 7; 7:30 p.m. Oct. 27, 28, Nov. 3 & 4

Cost: $12 students; $22 Friday and Saturday, public; $20 Wednesday, Thursday & Sunday public