The Play Company and Clubbed Thumb to Present LUNCH BUNCH

The Play Company (PlayCo; Founding Producer Kate Loewald, Managing Director Robert Bradshaw) and Clubbed Thumb present Sarah Einspanier's Lunch Bunch, directed by Tara Ahmadinejad. Lunch Bunch follows seven public defenders who embark on a frenzied quest for the perfect lunch-seeking meaning, belonging, and some semblance of order in daily culinary minutiae amidst the failures and injustices of larger social systems around them. Einspanier's "charming and smart" (The New York Times, in a Critic's Pick review) play examines how the momentous (The Law) can become the mundane, and how the mundane (your lunch) can become momentous. Performances will take place at the 122CC Second Floor Theatre (150 1st Avenue, New York, NY 10009), March 18 - April 19, 2020.

Lunch Bunch, commissioned by Clubbed Thumb, was developed and first produced earlier this year in Clubbed Thumb's Winterworks and Summerworks series, where it was hailed as an "excellent workplace comedy...at once a cry for help and a joyful, fizzy comedy of manners" with "lickety-split dialogue" in a "script [that] seem[s] almost like a piece of music" (Time Out New York). Expanding on that first acclaimed production-with much of the original cast and creative team returning-PlayCo gives the play further room for development, continuing the show's trajectory and offering audiences another opportunity to experience its bold pairing of comfort and chaos.

Lunch Bunch is a tribute to the sacrifices public servants make every day, kindly exposing the quirks of their coping mechanisms, and acknowledging the dire circumstances their clients face. It was inspired by the lunches of the real-life Bronx Defenders, where Einspanier's childhood friend works. The playwright recalls that she would hear from her, in "nearly equal parts about her cases and her lunches." The friend encouraged her to write about the Bronx Defenders-the nature of their work, and the nature of their meals, and provided the first names of the lawyers-and one sole detail about each of them. From this, Einspanier built the fictionalized characters (and the heightened stakes they attach to food) in her play.

Kate Loewald says, "We met Sarah a few years ago and had been following her work with great interest. Tara has a long relationship with PlayCo going back to her undergrad days, and we're great fans. We're also big admirers of Clubbed Thumb. Our artist communities overlap significantly, and although the missions are distinct, at heart both of our companies are devoted to new writing for theatre. We're incubating and producing new work from different vantage points. All of this comes together in Lunch Bunch. It's unusual for PlayCo to take on a project after it's had a production in New York, but we fell in love with the play when we saw it in Winterworks, and committed to supporting the project in whatever way Sarah and Tara wanted us to. This next iteration is an opportunity for them and their collaborators to devote time and resources to further develop the work, and to bring it to more people. I'm delighted PlayCo and Clubbed Thumb can join forces around this gem of a play. "

Lunch Bunch's cast and creative team will soon be announced.

Performances of Lunch Bunch will take place March 18 - April 19, 2020 at the 122CC Second Floor Theatre (150 1st Avenue Second Floor, New York, NY 10009).

Tickets will be on sale to the public beginning January 15. Regular prices are $35 General Admission/$45 Premium Reserved. PlayCo is offering its OpenHouse Access Program with multiple pricing levels to increase accessibility. On this initiative, Kate Loewald says, "PlayCo is committed to maintaining affordable access as part of our mission. We always maintain modest ticket prices, and our OpenHouse Access Program advances our efforts to remove price as a barrier."

As part of the program, there will be a limited number of $15 "Theater for Everyone" tickets available for performances March 18 - April 1. $15 student tickets can be purchased in advance with a valid school ID presented at will call. Group rates and discounts for teachers, librarians, first responders, and active duty personnel will also be available-call 212.398.2977 for details.

For full details, visit playco.org.