Skip to main content

'Empty Plate' brings much to the table

'Empty Plate' brings much to the table

COMEDY WILL SERVE A LARGE SIDE DISH OF DRAMA
'Empty Plate' brings much to the table

Kathleen Allen Arizona Daily Star | Posted: Friday, April 23, 2010

Michael Hollinger isn't a gourmand, a millionaire or a big Hemingway fan. But Victor, the main character in Hollinger's play, "An Empty Plate in the Café du Grand Boeuf," is each of those.

"An Empty Plate," which Invisible Theatre will open next week, is a comedy laced with drama about a very rich man (Victor), who quotes Hemingway often and has an exquisite restaurant in Paris that is open 24/7 and serves only him.

And he's decided to kill himself by starving to death. That stresses Victor's staff of a chef and waiters to no end - their purpose to life is to serve him. What will they do if they no longer can do that?

It is Hollinger's first play - one he wrote as an antidote to a too-structured film class.

READ MORE ... 'Empty Plate' brings much to the table

TIM FULLER / INVISIBLE THEATRECynthia Jeffery and Roberto Guajardo in Invisible Theatre's production of "An Empty Plate in the Cafe du Grand Boeuf," about a rich man with a restaurant that serves only him. Yet he's decided to starve himself.

Popular posts from this blog

INVISIBLE THEATRE ANNOUNCES AN EXCITING AND DIVERSE LINEUP OF PLAYS FOR ITS 2022-2023 SEASON!

 INVISIBLE THEATRE ANNOUNCES AN EXCITING AND DIVERSE LINEUP OF PLAYS FOR ITS 2022-2023 SEASON!  (April 1, 2022, Tucson, AZ); Invisible Theatre’s Managing Artistic Director, Susan Claassen and Associate Directors James Blair and Betsy Kruse Craig, announce six plays for the company’s 51st Anniversary Season. The lineup includes the SW premieres of acclaimed Off-Broadway contemporary plays, romantic comedies, the Arizona premieres of the award-winning musical tribute to the great Billie Holiday with BILLIE! - Backstage with Lady Day and intimate portraits of outspoken “Defenders of Liberty” like witty and brassy Molly Ivins in RED HOT PATRIOT: The KickAss Wit of Molly Ivins and the Off-Broadway acclaimed WIESENTHAL that tells the compelling story of Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal. The season also includes THE SABBATH GIRL, a contemporary comedy with an old-fashioned heart, SMALL MOUTH SOUNDS, a unique and compassionate new play that asks how we address life’s biggest questions whe...

"Coming Apart" review in the Arizona Daily Star

Link to AZ Star   Tucson's Invisible Theatre starts its season with laughs By Kathleen Allen Arizona Daily Star       Tim Fuller "Love and Marriage Go Together Like" …  unless you are romance author Frances Kittridge (Susan Kovitz) and her husband comedy columnist Colin (David Johnston) who are going through a trial separation and division of worldly goods while living in the same NYC apartment! So she has planned Invisible Theatre’s season accordingly. “The first couple of shows are lighthearted in what appears to be a challenging fall for the world,” says Claassen, the company’s managing artistic director. Next week, IT opens its 2016-17 season with Fred Carmichael’s comedy, “Coming Apart.” At its heart:  “Coming Apart is “a romantic comedy of love and marriage, but it also touches on what happens when pride enters a relationship,” says Claassen, who is a member of the cast. The couple coming apart are both writers who h...

Moody noir musical 'Gunmetal Blues' depicts misfortune in surreal world

Moody noir musical 'Gunmetal Blues' depicts misfortune in surreal world December 09, 2008, 9:49 a.m. CHUCK GRAHAM Tucson Citizen "Gunmetal Blues" rises out of the darkened Invisible Theatre stage as a 1930s nightclub gangster caper that's four parts atmosphere and one part action, with a twist. Armen Dirtadian looks terrific as Sam Galahad, the well-dressed loser who's old enough to know better but has never learned to resist. Dirtadian is well-known around Tucson for his dashing roles as the broad-shouldered leading man at Gaslight Theatre, but is keeping his personality in the shadows here. He plays a private eye so down on his luck, no client is ever turned away from his tattered office. Betsy Kruse Craig (another Gaslight star) steps into the IT spotlight as that tall blonde who doesn't care how much trouble Sam gets sucked into. She also plays three other blondes with their own suspicious motives. Taking on several additional roles is Mike Padilla, wh...