Review: THE RECIPE BOX at Austin Rainbow Theatre

Rick’s husband is leaving him for a younger man. That would be bad enough, but the younger man is also one of Rick’s students. And when his husband leaves, his mother stays behind. That is the wonderfully messy starting point for The Recipe Box, Del Shores’ newest play, receiving its regional premiere at Austin Rainbow Theatre.

Written and directed by Del Shores, The Recipe Box travels through heartbreak, friendship, loss, and the strange ways our lives rearrange themselves when everything familiar suddenly shifts. Emerson Collins stars as Rick, a math professor whose marriage to Joah (Chris Skinner) has spectacularly imploded. Already carrying the grief of his mother’s death, Rick now has to figure out who he is when another person he loves walks out the door.

Joah’s mother, Lou Wanda, is not going anywhere. Played with irresistible wit and charm by Cynthia Sanders, Mamma Lou has a gambling problem, an appreciation for peach whiskey, and a pressing housing situation. Staying in Rick’s good graces is a matter of self-preservation. But as a good Southern mother, nosy and forever in everyone’s business, she soon discovers the recipe box left behind by Rick’s mother and begins cooking his favorite dishes.

What follows could easily become sentimental, but Del Shores keeps the relationship between Rick and Lou Wanda wonderfully peculiar. Food opens a door to memories Rick has kept tucked away, while Lou Wanda gradually finds a place in his life neither of them anticipated. What starts as mutual convenience evolves into something affectionate, complicated, and deeply satisfying to watch. A deceptively simple scene with the two of them sitting together on the porch swing brings their relationship to a beautiful new place. Collins showcases some of his best comedic skills in the scene, while the quiet intimacy between the two characters makes it one of the most memorable moments of the evening.

The play is funny as heck. Del Shores has always been very good at finding comedy in people behaving badly, loving imperfectly, and saying things that probably should have remained safely inside their heads. The Recipe Box gives us plenty of that trademark irreverence, but the humor never cheapens the pain underneath it. The laughs and heartbreak sit comfortably at the same table.

Collins gives Rick all the contradictions the character needs. He is intelligent but occasionally clueless, wounded but not always sympathetic, angry, stubborn, and capable of getting so tangled in his own misery that he misses what is happening around him. Collins never asks us to pity Rick. Instead, he lets us watch a man slowly reconstruct himself after the future he had mapped out disappears.

Del Shores and Collins have worked together for more than two decades, and their creative shorthand is evident. Collins understands the rhythm of Del Shores’ writing, moving effortlessly from biting comedy to emotional exposure without telegraphing the transition.

Sanders is perfection as Lou Wanda, giving the production much of its comic spark and, ultimately, much of its soul. A lesser performance could turn her into a Southern caricature, with the gambling, whiskey, blunt opinions, and general refusal to behave herself. Sanders finds the woman underneath all that glorious chaos. She is hilarious without chasing punchlines, and the chemistry between Sanders and Collins makes their evolving connection completely believable.

Chelsea Manasseri is another enchanting casting choice as Oona, Rick’s sassy, exuberant, fiercely loyal friend. Manasseri has excellent comic instincts and brings a jolt of energy whenever she appears. Oona is the sort of friend who will support you through a crisis while making it 

clear when she thinks you are being an idiot. Everyone should probably have an Oona, although perhaps in small doses.

Skinner faces the unenviable task of playing the man who detonated Rick’s marriage. His Joah has an almost man-child quality, capable of causing enormous damage while remaining somewhat bewildered by the consequences. Skinner resists making him merely contemptible, giving the character more dimension and making the fractured relationships around him considerably more interesting.

As director, Del Shores keeps the production brisk without trampling its quieter moments. The four actors have an easy chemistry, and the tonal shifts rarely announce themselves. A ridiculous exchange can turn painful within seconds, then find its way back to laughter. That fluidity is one of the production’s greatest strengths.

Kevin Brown’s scenic design is beautiful. The lush Louisiana porch, crowded with plants and the comfortable accumulation of a home that has been inhabited rather than decorated, gives the story an immediate sense of place. It is an inviting setting for a household in complete emotional disarray, and the contrast works beautifully.

What stays with you after The Recipe Box is its refusal to treat the collapse of Rick’s marriage as the end of his story. Instead, it becomes the event that forces him to look around. The person who leaves creates an absence, but the people who remain turn out to matter in ways he never anticipated.

The recipe box itself becomes a lovely conduit between past and present. Rick’s mother survives in handwriting, ingredients, remembered tastes, and meals recreated by a woman who could not be more different from her. Lou Wanda never takes her place. She creates a place of her own.

The Recipe Box is irreverent, highly entertaining, and unexpectedly tender. Del Shores gives us people who are messy, exasperating, wounded, ridiculous, and capable of surprising one another with kindness. In other words, a family, however unconventional the recipe may be.

The Recipe Box
Written and Directed by Del Shores

Now playing through September 19th, 2026
Thursdays-Saturdays at 8:00 PM
Sunday, September 13th, at 2:00 PM

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