Play With Your Food '14 Season Kicks-Off Jan. 7

Play With Your Food lunchtime theater program will be held Jan. 7-9 at Toquet Hall in Westport and Jan. 14 at Fairfield Theatre Company from 12-1:30 p.m.

The programs include a buffet lunch and dessert catered by The Pantry of Fairfield, followed by readings of short plays by professional actors.

In January, audiences will be treated to an ensemble cast of five actors reading: Package Deal by comedy writer Frederick Stroppel, Finding Mona Lisa by Florida playwright Michael McKeever and an excerpt of Pulitzer Prize-/Tony Award- recipient Neil Simon’s Last of the Red Hot Lovers.

A post-show discussion concludes the program. Tickets are $43 with lunch included. Shows are held monthly through April.

For information, visitwww.jibproductions.org, call 203-293-8831 or email info@jibproductions.org.


While announcing the upcoming Play With Your Food (PWYF) season, which begins Jan. 7, JIB Productions’ Artistic Director Carole Schweid said, “With the cold weather upon us, it’s time for us to warm your hearts with entertaining and provocative theater. We’re eager to share our 12th season of short play readings at lunchtime.”

Launching at Toquet Hall in Westport Jan. 7-9 and at Fairfield Theatre Company on Jan. 14, PWYF’s innovation comes from combining a buffet lunch with professional actors reading one-act plays and then participating in a post-show discussion. Performances take place 12 to 1:30 p.m. on dates in January, 
February, March and April. January’s lunches will be catered by The Pantry of Fairfield.

“Our goal in programming is always to present well-written, engaging plays that, while pleasurable, somehow also manage to deliver a punch,” continued Schweid. “I’m really pleased with the 2014 line-up.”

In January, audiences will be treated to an ensemble cast of five actors reading: Package Deal by comedy writer Frederick Stroppel, Finding Mona Lisa by Florida playwright Michael McKeever and an excerpt of Pulitzer Prize-/Tony Award- recipient Neil Simon’s Last of the Red Hot Lovers. Stroppel’s Package Deal enters the world of shrewd, calculating Hollywood, turning what looks like a 
normal situation into something hilarious when actress and agent go “at it” tooth and nail. The play will feature actress Patricia Kalember, who is best-known for TV work on Sisters, Thirty Something, Law & Order, and White Collar. In Finding Mona Lisa, the playwright explores in a very contemporary way, the intimate relationship between men of power and the subjects they love and want to possess. McKeever was represented in previous PWYF seasons by American Gothic, which also humorously examines insights into the art world. Last of the Red Hot Lovers, Simon’s 1969 Broadway hit later turned into a film, follows the story of Barney Cashman, a seafood restaurateur, who is desperate to join the “sexual revolution” before it's too late. 

Veteran actors Barbara Rhoades and Tom Zingarelli clash in this battle of wits. Highlights of the remainder of the 2014 Play With Your Food season include: excerpts from Noel Coward’s Private Lives, featuring TV and film personalities Daniel Gerroll and Patricia Kalember, who recently performed the work together at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis; and The Audience, a well-received new play by Peter Morgan that is attracting sell-out crowds in London and spans the lifetime of Queen Elizabeth and her audiences with 11 Prime Ministers.

Cast will include OBIE winner, E. Katherine Kerr. Also on the roster are: Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Auburn’s (Proof) dark comedy Amateurs, a thoughtful The Interview by A.R. Gurney and Arthur Miller’s glimpse at immigration in Grandpa and the Upcoming performances at Toquet Hall in Westport are set for Jan. 7- 9, Feb. 4-6, March 4- 6 and April 1-3.

At Fairfield Theatre Company, productions will be held Jan. 14, Feb. 11, March 11 and April 8. In addition, Play With Your Food at the Greenwich Arts Council is offered Jan. 15 and16, February 7, March 26 and 27, and April 16 and 17. Tickets for Play With Your Food are $43 per show and include lunch.

To purchase tickets and see complete schedule, visit www.jibproductions.org or call the box office at (203) 293-8831 Monday-Friday. 
between 10:00 a.m. and 4:00p.m.