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CONTRA COSTA TIMES, Oct. 18, 2003

'Eat' a quick but satisfying piece

-- Pat Craig

There may well be more dark secrets in the kitchen than even the bedroom. We just don't hear much about them, because there isn't a quarter-pounder on Earth sexier than speculation over what goes on between the sheets.

Yet when you look at the notion of eating -- and the role it plays is far beyond keeping body and soul together -- it turns out we are a pretty quirky bunch, with all our rituals, risks and silliness over food and all that it entails.

Actually, aside from occasionally pondering a hyper-formal, six-fork table setting, people tend to think very little about eating. We can spend hours talking about food -- you bet your sweet Andronico's we can occupy our time discussing the nuance of cheese or the exact flavor of a curly spring green. But there is very little time spent on the spine-tingling risk of eating, say, a cup of yogurt or maybe a bowl of soup while driving.

And that is exactly what makes Elizabeth Lisle's short piece "Eat" so fascinating.
The brief (60 minutes) play is an adventure in experimental theater. Lisle and her cast spent 12 weeks interviewing a variety of people about food and eating, then put together a show through written dialogue and improvisation. What emerged out of the intensive work, directed by Kimberly Dooley, is a fascinating self-portrait of how and why we eat.

"Eat" begins something like a gastronomic version of "Our Town," with a series of characters reminiscing over the way dinner was served as they were growing up. The variety ranges from a mom too stewed to serve anything before 9 p.m. to a formal evening's repast complete with a servant and a little electronic signal to tell the help when seconds are needed.

There is the boy who delighted in TV dinners and the girl who sees dinner as a genteel reminder of the golden days.

Most successful, though, is the segment devoted to road food -- the potato chips and fast-food meals that are consumed either on the way to work or on long trips, where travelers make time by not stopping, but by living from drive-through to convenience mart and so on.

The piece is brilliantly constructed, with cast members making traffic sounds as background to the various bits on consuming food while driving.

While there is something serious, and a little disturbing, at the bottom of this piece, the whole ride is jolly fun. From the "flavorists" who try to put the essence of human experience into the taste of a particular food to the bozos who simply fall for their tricks, the piece takes a humorous look at why we eat -- and delivers laughs with every bite.

"Eat" features a wonderful cast composed of Fontana Butterfield, Rebecca Fisher, Frieda de Lackner, Chris Paulina, Reyme Weddle and Stephanie Young. They have worked together to the point where they perform as a unit, giving the piece an excellent cohesiveness.

The show is simply staged on the La Val's tiny stage, using only a half-dozen high stools and lab coats as scenery and props.

Basically, no matter what your mother told you, "Eat" proves it actually is a good thing to play with your food.