- By Kitchen Theatre
- Entertainment
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Comfort Food tells three separate stories of dining, dating, dessert, and desire, performed by a stellar cast. Tales from and in the kitchen, the play is filled with conversations and revelations that find people on the brink of change, as they do in kitchens across the country.
In Part 1: Harriet’s Kitchen, we meet Harriet Reziteppa (Jessica Flood), the host of a television cooking show called Sing for Your Supper. As she cooks, instructs and sings, she shares tidbits about what’s new in her life. There is always a segment about her upcoming wedding, only six weeks away, as well as special recipes for the holidays. Her usual free and breezy conversation takes a turn as she learns some unexpected news as she is about to go on air. With a musical range that extends from opera to heavy metal, Harriet is a one-woman tour-de-force for actor/singer Jessica Flood. Flood has been seen in several Kitchen Theatre productions, playing Mack/ Mabel in Precious Nonsense, Isabel in Tony & the Soprano and, most recently, Constanza in the Family Fare production of The Mozart Mystery.In Part 2: Doug’s Kitchen, Doug’s (Greg Bostwick) recent quick split from his girlfriend was his idea but he’s grappling with the fallout. The one thing Doug is sure of is that he will not have to endure his girlfriend’s experimental cuisine any longer. It is “back to basics” for Doug, free to eat all the forbidden packaged food he has missed. But that is not all he is missing. Through a series of odes and elegies to and about his most treasured sugar-filled and carbo-driven chow, he discovers the nourishment of life. Bostwick is a long-time Kitchen Theatre Company member, appearing last season as Walter in The Price.
Part 3: Estelle’s Kitchen is the story of Estelle Abrams (Norma Fire) and Saul Gersten (Steve Elmore), both widowed, both born in 1935, but with little else in common except that Saul was a childhood friend of Estelle’s husband, Joe. Saul arrives unexpectedly at Estelle’s apartment just a few days after New Year’s Eve hoping to reconnect with his old friend. Thrust together, Estelle and Saul discuss their divergent memories of Joe and the new solo lives they lead. Change and healing are the main fare as Estelle prepares a dinner for two.
“It has been great fun to work on these three short plays that all happen in a kitchen – kind of a wonderful theme-come true for my tenth season at the Kitchen Theatre Company. This production takes our watchword “important conversations happen in the Kitchen” to a new level of meaning,” say playwright and KTC Artistic Director Rachel Lampert.
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