Apollinaire Theatre Company to Present LUNCH BUNCH by Sarah Einspanier
Performances of Lunch Bunch are Dec. 29, 2023-Jan. 21, 2024.
By: Chloe Rabinowitz Dec. 07, 2023
In a city not unlike New York, in a public defenders office not unlike The Bronx Defenders' Family Defense Practice, amidst the distinct fear/feeling that things are falling apart/going to shit more than usual, 7 public defenders seek meaning, belonging, and some semblance of order via their frenzied quest for the perfect Lunch (Bunch).
"In Sarah Einspanier’s tart, heartsick comedy “Lunch Bunch”, a group of public defenders—zipping around in rolling office chairs—distract themselves from their punishing family-court caseloads with a weekly gourmet-vegetarian lunch-sharing plan (barbecued jackfruit sandwiches, salads with turmeric, seasonal vegetables, always lovingly described). Their work is full of defeat and other people’s loss, so small pleasures assume ridiculous levels of import; an enthusiastic newbie rubs the group’s perfectionist the wrong way and we worry for her future, since an ejected member of the group was cast very far out—all the way back to the prehistoric past, when lunches were more mammoth-forward....this [is a] snack-size, hour-long show, but you digest it over the next several days, as you remember the real-life details—families torn apart, the advocates’ emotional burnout, the grinding judicial system—served as side dishes alongside the absurd main course." -New Yorker
Sarah Einspanier’s (they/them) most recent plays include Lunch Bunch (PlayCo and Clubbed Thumb; New York Times and Time Out Critic’s Picks), House Plant (New York Theatre Workshop’s Next Door; ‘highbrow / brilliant’ in New York Magazine’s Approval Matrix; Lambda Literary Award Finalist), I forgot to tell you (The Brooklyn Rail, June 2021 Issue), and DEBT co-written with ruth tang (development with Breaking the Binary Theatre). A recipient of Darren Aronofsky's Protozoa Pictures/LAMF Theater Fund commission and the 2023 Lotos Foundation Prize, they teach playwriting at NYU Tisch and the National Theater Institute.
Performances of Lunch Bunch are Dec. 29, 2023-Jan. 21, 2024
Fri. & Sat. at 8:00, Sun. at 3:00 (no show Dec. 31)
Press Night: Sat. Dec. 30, 8:00
Performances are at the Chelsea Theatre Works, 189 Winnisimmet St., Chelsea.
Tickets are $30, $25 seniors, $15 students
Tickets can be purchased by calling (617) 887-2336 or on-line at www.apollinairetheatre.com
Information and directions at www.apollinairetheatre.com
Lunch Bunch by Sarah Einspanier
Dec. 29, 2023-Jan. 21, 2024
Chelsea Theatre Works, 189 Winnisimmet St., Chelsea.
(617) 887-2336 • www.apollinairetheatre.com
Cast:
Jacob - Cristhian Mancinas-García
Tuttle - Parker Jennings
Hannah - Paola Ferrer
Tal - Michael (Shifty) Celestin
Greg- Alex Leondedis
Mitra - Julia Hertzberg
Nicole - Laura Hubbard
David - Dev Luthra, Katie Pickett, Brooks Reeves (on alternating nights)
Tuttle - Parker Jennings
Hannah - Paola Ferrer
Tal - Michael (Shifty) Celestin
Greg- Alex Leondedis
Mitra - Julia Hertzberg
Nicole - Laura Hubbard
David - Dev Luthra, Katie Pickett, Brooks Reeves (on alternating nights)
Directed by Danielle Fauteux Jacques
Stage Manager: Natalie Farina
ASM: Shelove Duperier, Ben Cruz
PA: Alexandra Gregory
Scenic & Sound Design: Joseph Lark-Riley
Lighting Design: Danielle Fauteux Jacques
Running Time: estimated 60 minutes
Performances will be followed by Special Events with local restaurants and community groups, and receptions with the actors. Details TBA!
Apollinaire Theatre Company creates unique encounters with plays that inspire and entertain. Our programs -Teatro Chelsea, Apollinaire Play Lab, Apollinaire in the Park, Resident Artist Program- complement our production season and cultivate an ecosystem of artists of all ages and career stages in our home for adventurous art, the Chelsea Theatre Works.
Apollinaire productions include our summer immersive bilingual productions Hamlet, And Your Little Dog Too, and Romeo and Juliet, Don’t Eat the Mangos by Ricardo Pérez González, Dance Nation by Clare Barron, The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, Uncle Vanya and Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov, A Beautiful Day in November on the Banks of the Greatest of the Great Lakes by Kate Benson, Songs of the Dragons Flying to Heaven by Young Jean Lee, and The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart by David Greig.
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