Lunchtime series returns with comedy, drama

Thursday, 07 January 2010 15:50

Play with Your Food, the annual lunchtime theater series at the Greenwich Arts Council, has announced its program line-up for the 2010 season, beginning Wednesday, Jan. 6, and Thursday, Jan. 7, from noon to 1:30.

Since 2006, the Greenwich Arts Council has annually invited Greenwich area residents to enjoy Play with Your Food, professional staged readings of one-act plays and a discussion with the actors. Before heading into the meeting room for the show, audiences will first dine on a buffet lunch by Meli Melo Catering, among the Picasso prints, ceramics and vintage posters on view in the Bendheim Gallery.

The mission of the Greenwich Arts Council is to promote the arts by nurturing artists and building audiences, bringing the arts to the community and the community to the arts. “Collaborating with Play with Your Food is a natural for us,” said GAC Executive Director Paul Master-Karnik. “The acting is superbly professional, the plays are well chosen, and the house is packed with very appreciative audiences.”

The Agreement by Janet Neipris will open January’s program of three short plays. “Funny and wise...Neipris has a wonderful ear for the way people talk when they are trying to say the right thing in an unnerving situation,” said The New York Times of Neipris’ treatment of divorce. Barbara Lindsay’s unsettling Holy Hell explores the unpredictability of chance encounters. Audiences will rollick with laughter in Fred Stroppel’s Pillow, as a woman faces unexpected circumstances after a late-night tryst.

“Our plays often address themes from personal experiences, sometimes with outrageous outcomes,” said Carole Schweid, Play with Your Food’s artistic director. “This season explores relationships of all kinds, with lots of surprises.”

On Feb. 10 and 11, Jason Katim’s The Man Who Couldn’t Dance will be followed by Sir Noel Coward’s Still Life, the play that inspired the film Brief Encounter. Lunch will be catered by Centro Ristorante. The season concludes on March 31 and April 1 with The Trip by Stephanie Keys; Surprise by Mark Harvey Levine and An Upset by David Auburn, with lunch by Garelick and Herbs.

Now in its fifth year at GAC, and also producing a series in Westport and Fairfield, Play with Your Food attracts its professional casts from the large pool of actors in Connecticut and the New York metropolitan area. The Greenwich season is sponsored by RBS Sempra Commodities and Starbucks.

All Play with Your Food performances at the Greenwich Arts Council, 299 Greenwich Ave., run from noon to 1:30. Paid reservations are required. Tickets are $42 general admission or $40 for GAC members, and may be ordered by calling 203-293-8831 Monday to Friday, 10 to 3 or visiting Playwithyourfood.org.