The Backyard Cleveland Heights Pizza Oven Lawsuit Hits the Big Screen

Newsome tends to the oven. Credit: Mark Oprea

From a neighborly squabble to national news, the tale of the backyard pizza oven in Cleveland Heights that produced a testy six-year battle between neighbords, multiple calls to the fire department, and a lawsuit that went all the way to a jury verdict is now the subject of a short documentary premiering at the Chagrin Documentary Film Fest.

Director Adam Dew takes you behind the scenes of the oven at the center of the controversy, the one built by Paul Schambs for his wife Mary Lynne Newsome that so riled neighbors Brooks and Mika Jones that they endeavored into a lengthy legal battle to have it shut down.
Schambs won, of course, as you should know, but the deeper narrative of fences and neighbors and tasty homemade pizza is well worth the 26 minutes you’ll spend watching it.

You can catch the film as part of the fest this Saturday at 12:00 p.m. at Triangle Park or in full at your leisure via streaming from Oct. 7 to 13 with a ticket.

The trailer for your enjoyment is below.