Play With Your Food 2010 Season Opens Jan. 19

You know the painting: The man, the woman, the pitchfork.

Well, the woman . . . she wants out! The play is American Gothic by Michael McKeever, and it opens the 2010 Play With Your Food season from noon to 1:30 p.m. Jan. 19 at the Fairfield Theatre Company.

For the last three years, this popular theatre series has entertained appreciative lunchtime audiences at FTC with its selection of provocative short plays and lunch. 

"You never know what to expect at Play With Your Food," Producer Nancy Diamond said in a news release. "Last year, it ended up that our opening day was Inauguration Day. So, during lunch, we streamed Obama live taking his oath of office. It was an extraordinary moment in the community."

Play With Your Food began in Westport in 2003. The program starts at noon with a lunch in the FTC Warehouse catered by The Pantry.

Following the food, volunteers lead audiences to their seats in Stage One where they're treated to readings of stand-out plays staged by professional actors. Then the audience has a chance to discuss the plays with the actors and director before the program wraps up at 1:30 p.m.

"We want our audiences to feel connected to each other and to laugh," said Artistic Director Carole Schweid.  "Not every play we do is funny, but we do guarantee some laughter and that the warm feeling people leave with in their bellies is not just from the food."

To that end, Schweid has selected a January program at FTC both to warm the heart and tickle the funnybone.  If you can imagine Grant Wood's iconic painting hilariously brought to life, you've got American Gothic by Michael McKeever. Among his collection of short plays, McKeever, a Florida author, routinely delves into every aspect of the human condition. In The Precipice, William Mastriosimone provocatively explores our thought processes when faced with a particularly challenging situation. His 1986 Broadway play, Extremities, starring Farah Fawcett, similarly examined human reactions.

The January program concludes with selections from the 1999 off-Broadway hit Fully Committed. Becky Mode's irreverent treatment of the restaurant business, through the eyes of the reservation clerk who is also an unemployed actor, will surely hit home with many. Restaurant experiences, too, will never be the same.

For the past eight years, Play With Your Food has brought friends together to watch theatrical writing come alive in Fairfield County communities. Play With Your Food attracts its professional casts from Connecticut and the New York metropolitan area. 

The 2010 Play With Your Food Tuesday series continues at FTC on February 9 (The Agreementby Janet Neipris; The Grand Design by Susan Miller; I Hate Hamlet by Paul Rudnick; lunch by The Fairfield Café); March 9 (Tenure by Michael Lew; Knowing Best by Michael McKeever; Still Life by Noel Coward; lunch by Spic & Span Market); and April 6 (A Selection of Short Plays under 10 Minutes).

In addition to the Fairfield series, Play With Your Food appears in Westport at Toquet Hall on January 12, 13, 14 and at the Greenwich Arts Council in Greenwich on January 6 and 7. For complete program and ticket information, check www.playwithyourfood.org.

All PWYF performances at the Fairfield Theatre Company, 70 Sanford Street, run from 12 noon – 1:30pm.  Paid reservations are required. Tickets are $42, and can be ordered by calling 203.293.8831 (Monday – Friday, 10am – 3pm), or online at www.playwithyourfood.org.