Lunchtime Theater Returning To Alexandria Room

Following the success of Play With Your Food’s debut presentation in Newtown — a holiday offering of A Christmas Memory in December — Newtown Cultural Arts Commission has scheduled two more PWYF Thursday afternoon events this season: February 18 and April 8, from noon to 1:30 pm.

Play With Your Food has brought quality theatrical writing and acting to Fairfield county communities since 2003 with full seasons in Westport, Greenwich and Fairfield. Its signature daytime program combines gourmet lunches with professionally staged readings of one-act plays, written by both emerging and award-winning playwrights.

“The Alexandria Room is a beautiful space for these events,” says PWYF Artistic Director Carole Schweid. “We are thrilled to have Newtown join our family of venues.”

On February 18, in celebration of Valentine’s Day, “Love in the Afternoon” will present love and relationships with a twist: a first date like you’ve never seen in Sure Thing by David Ives; Leslie Ayvazian’s Twenty-Four Years (of marriage, yes!); and the hilarious After the Ball by Fred Stroppel. A buffet lunch before the show will be catered by Mona Lisa Restaurant.

Featured on February 18 will be the actress Barbara Rhoades, who will read the Stroppel work with Tom Zingarelli. The statuesque redhead and Weston resident may be best remembered for her appearances on TV’s Soap, Busting Loose, Blue Knight, Joe Forester and You, Again? as well as many guest appearances, including Law & Order.

Ms Rhoades  started her career as a dancer in New York where she appeared with Sammy Davis, Jr. on his TV show and on Broadway with Barbra Streisand in Funny Girl. Universal Pictures put her under contract where she starred in Don’t Just Stand There, Shakiest Gun in the West with Don Knotts, and was featured in such films as Harry & Tonto, The Goodbye Girl, There Was A Crooked Man, Up the Sandbox and Serial. Her latest film was First Love with Elizabeth Shue.

Other cast members for the February event will include Newtown’s Kate Katcher and Weston’s Sean Hannon in Twenty-Four Years, while Alison Cimmet, fresh from her role in Broadway’s Tale of Two Cities, and Fairfield’s Damian Long will tackle Sure Thing.

For April 8, as buds begin to appear in the garden, “Rites of Spring” will features those pesky critters in Deer Play by Mary Louise Wilson, a tender and touching pairing in The Betrothal by Lanford Wilson, and a comic look at baseball in Fred Stroppel’s Judgment Call. Lunch will be catered by the Double Eagle Deli & Grill.

Both events will be held in The Alexandria Room at Edmond Town Hall, 45 Main Street in Newtown. Doors open at 11:50 am, and lunch begins at noon. A brief discussion with the actors closes the program at 1:30 pm.

“We were delighted with the response to Play With Your Food in December and knew we wanted to do it again,” said Jennifer Johnston, the president of Newtown Cultural Arts Commission. “Bringing programs like this to Newtown is exactly what NCAA is set up to do. We’re thrilled.”

Tickets for both events are available online at NewtownArtsCommission.org or by phone at 203-364-9844. Mastercard and Visa are accepted. All tickets must be purchased in advance; by February 16 for “Love in the Afternoon” and by April 6 for “Rites of Spring.”

Tickets are $30 for one event or $55 for both events. Tickets will not be sold at the door.