Photo Flash: A Look Inside Rachel Lampert's THE SOUP COMES LAST at Kitchen Theatre Company

From Ithaca to Beijing to New York City and now back to Ithaca! Rachel Lampert's THE SOUP COMES LAST opens for previews on Sunday, November 29 and runs for thirteen performances through December 13th. SOUP is a delightful and hilarious memoir of Lampert's 1997 trip to China to stage the first-ever production of WEST SIDE STORY in the Peoples' Republic. This international backstage story filled with miscommunications and cultural missteps has been a long-time favorite with Ithaca-area audiences.

THE SOUP COMES LAST premiered at Kitchen Theatre Company in April 1998. It was commissionedby former KTC artistic director, Norm Johnson, and performed in Lampert's first season as artistic director. She portrays a cast full of intriguing characters all coming together to put on a show under wildly challenging and marvelously human circumstances.

Lampert's performance was recognized with the SALT Award for Best Actress of the Summer Season 2004. The Syracuse New Times said, "Lampert demonstrates magisterial timing with her own material. Deepening her version in this rewrite of Soup, she also portrays what other characters were feeling." Bringing SOUP back this season celebrates a Kitchen-commissioned home-grown work created in the spirit of Kitchen Theatre Company's mission to nurture new work.

Check out Lampert in action below!

Photo Credit: George Cannon