Feature: Play With Your Food -- Fairfield County



Joanna Keylock, Nick Sadler and Wendy Long. Photo: Phyllis Groner

Play Reading Series Celebrates 10 Years
By Lauren Yarger
Disregard all of that advice your mother gave you about not playing with your food and get down to Fairfield County for the 10th anniversary of Play With Your Food, a popular lunchtime play-reading series.

Local restaurants serve up delicious fare before a trio of one-act plays in Westport, Fairfield and Greenwich.

An audience of about 80, mostly women, arrived at Toquet Hall in Wesport for the event I attended Tuesday. A buffet lunch of assorted sandwiches and salads was served beginning at noon. Folks ate and chatted while lunching at high-top tables toward the rear of the hall, or sitting on the edge of the stage or in the theater-style seat setup. Carole Schweid, artistic director and co-founder of the series, introduced the readings beginning about a half an hour later.

“Our plays tend to reflect, in some ways, where we are in our lives,” Schweid said. “Arizona Anniversaries (by John Bishop) was chosen before it dawned on us that January marks the beginning of our 10th season of Play With Your Food. How interesting is that!”

“We’re excited to start our season with Agatha Christie’s short play The Rats,” said Executive Producer Nancy Diamond, “complete with adulterous lovers, a locked room, and of course, a murder.”

In addition to the mystery and the thoughtful drama, Tuesday's Westport audience was treated to Airborne, a comedy by Gib Johnson about an airline ticketing agent who has some interesting ideas about how to get people to the right destination. Playing the assortment of characters were actors Heather Corrington, Joanna Kelock, Wendy Long, Tim Ruddy, Nick Sadler and Caroline Winterson.

Among the highlights in the 2012 season:
-- a selection of love letters and music from the Broadway show 1776
-- The Loop, originally played by "Desperate Housewives" star Edie Falco and written by Pulitzer Prize winner Warren Leight, a fun comedy about a married man caught, literally, with his pants down.
-- An excerpt from George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion, featuring British born West End and Broadway actor Norman Allen as the irascible Doolittle.  

Schweid, who enthusiastically provided the reading of stage directions for the presentation of Rats also led a post-reading Q&A session with the actors and audience. Lunch, readings and Q&A efficiently concluded shortly after 1:30 making this a perfect work-day break.

The series moves to the Fairfield Theatre Company on Tuesday, Jan. 17, Feb. 14, March 13 and April 3 and to the Greenwich Arts Council on Wednesday, Jan. 18 March 14, 15 and April 19 and 20. Westport performances at Toquet Hall continue Tuesdays through Thursdays: Feb. 7, 8, 9; March 6, 7, 8 and April 10, 11 and 12.

Tickets cost $43 and can be ordered online at www.jibproductions.org or by calling the box office at 203-293-8831 (weekdays 10 am to 4 pm). Advanced reservations are required.

The detailed schedule with availability is as follows:
Fairfield- Fairfield Theatre Company, 70 Sanford Street, FairfieldTuesday, Jan. 17
Arizona Anniversaries (John Bishop) Airborne (Gib Johnson)
The Rats (Agatha Christie)
lunch by The Dressing Room

Tuesday, Feb. 14
The Kiss (Mark Harvey Levine)
In the Trap (Carl L. Williams)
John & Abigail  (Adapted for the theatre by William Gibson)
Song from 1776
lunch by Layla’s
Tuesday, March 13
Mexico City (Hannah Moscovitz)
The Loop (Warren Leight)
I Know (Jacquelyn Reingold)
lunch by Tuckers

Tuesday, April 3
Pygmalion (George Bernard Shaw)
other plays TBA
lunch by The Pantry

Westport- Toquet Hall, 62 Post Road East, Westport-Tuesdays, Wednesdays and ThursdaysFebruary 7, 8 (sold out). 9
The Kiss (Mark Harvey Levine)
In the Trap (Carl L. Williams)
John & Abigail  (Adapted for the theatre by William Gibson)
Song from 1776
lunch by DaPietro’s Restaurant

March 6, 7 (sold out), 8
Mexico City (Hannah Moscovitz)
The Loop (Warren Leight)
I Know (Jacquelyn Reingold)
lunch by Matsu Sushi

April 10, 11 (sold out), 12
Pygmalion (George Bernard Shaw)
Other plays TBA
lunch by Garelick and Herbs

Greenwich-Greenwich Arts Council, 299 Greenwich Ave., GreenwichWednesday and Thursday, March 14, 15
The Loop (Warren Leight)
Arizona Anniversaries (John Bishop)
The Rats (Agatha Christie)
Lunch by Le Pain Quotidien