In Defense of Wonder
Essay
Staff Meal
Peter Jay Sharp Theater
Written by
Abe Koogler
Directed by Morgan Green
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Outside, the world is breaking apart. But in here, lonely city dwellers gather to find comfort and connection. Abe Koogler’s Staff Meal is a funny, startling new play about a mysterious restaurant, where the food is delicious, the service is warm, and some strange power keeps the darkness at bay. You are safe here – at least until closing time.
For a description of topics and sensory experiences that audiences may find distressing in advance of attending Staff Meal, please click here to read our Content Transparency Statement. If you have any additional questions about content, age-appropriateness, or stage effects (such as strobe lights) that might have a bearing on patron comfort, please utilize our Audience Services Form or emailaudienceservices@phnyc.org.
Featuring
Server
Rita
Mina
Waiter
Server
Ben
Vagrant
Creative Team
Jian Jung
Scenic Designer
Kaye Voyce
Costume Designer
Masha Tsimring
Lighting Designer
Tei Blow
Sound Designer
Steve Cuiffo
Illusion Designer
Ryan Gohsman
Production Stage Manager
Staff Meal was awarded a 2024 Citation of Excellence by the Laurents/Hatcher Foundation. Staff Meal has received generous support from the Venturous Theater Fund, a fund of Tides Foundation, the Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Playwrights Horizons' season productions are generously supported by the Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council.
“Koogler’s brilliance as a playwright is how he captures the real while hinting at the eternal. Just when it seems like he is trying to strangle your heart with tension, he goes ahead and breaks it with simplicity.”
— Newcity Stage“Koogler’s characters are earnest, idiosyncratic, and suspicious of hierarchy. Often bitingly funny, Koogler’s plays…reveal larger truths about the economic and racial systems under which we all live.”
— The Yale Review
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