DEATH COMES TO THE FOOD COURT And The PLAYERS RING to Be Presented at the Players' Ring Late Night Summer Series

Weekend Writers Productions will present Death Comes to the Food Court at the Players' Ring Theatre, located at 105 Marcy Street Portsmouth, NH. Show times are Fridays and Saturdays at 10 pm and Sundays at 9 pm. Tickets are $15 with discounts for students, seniors, and Players' Ring members. To make your reservation visit playersring.org or call 603-436-8123.

The premise for Lawrence Hennessy's original play, Death Comes to the Food Court, occurred while standing in line at Starbucks, when two women were overheard in conversation.

The first remarked, "I don't know what it is about me that causes me to keep making the same mistakes over and over again." The second woman responded, "Well, is there anything that you can take from these sessions that you find helpful?" It then became obvious that a therapy session was taking place in a Starbucks, of all places!

This was Hennessy's inspiration for this tragic-comic, neo-absurdist, post-modern theater piece, which centers around a seriously compromised psychologist who has been let go from his position with a well-respected group practice, only to find himself roaming the wilderness of his local shopping mall looking for new clients as he experiences his not so gentle decent into his own madness. Throw in a law suit, a mall fire, a lover's quarrel, a suicide, a terrorist bombing and a world class case of food poisoning and you have all the ingredients of a unique mid-summer night's comedy, after which you may never look at the food court quite the same.

Since 1992, the mission of The Players' Ring has been to promote the efforts of local artists through the production of original works, while providing an affordable theatre space to local production companies. "The Ring" provides an environment where artists can thrive, grow, take risks and make daring choices.

2026 Theater Fans' Choice Awards - Live Stats

Best Original Score - Top 3

1. The Rescues , The Rescues - The Lost Boys

41.7% of votes

2. Jim Barne, Kit Buchan - Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York)

28.2% of votes

3. Cinco Paul - Schmigadoon!

22.8% of votes

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