"COMMUNAL TABLE" by Jenny Lyn Bader

Published: Jan. 29, 2024, 5 a.m.

COMMUNAL TABLE: Have you ever had to share a table in a caf\xe9 with the wrong people? On one summer afternoon in June, the day of the summer solstice, three characters end up at the same caf\xe9 table. Minna enjoys eavesdropping, but this time is different \u2014 this guy is getting so many things wrong, she may just need to interrupt. Gary loves meeting new people, but it looks like his latest flirtation is getting sabotaged. Allie has come here for some peace but she\u2019s unlikely to find any here.\nWritten by Jenny Lyn Bader\nDirected by\xa0Jonathan Cook\nPerformed by Elizabeth D. Moore as "Allie", Shelby Lauren Smith as "Minna", & Mickey Lay as "Gary".\nIntro/Outro music:\xa0JK/47\nAbout the writer: Jenny Lyn Bader is a playwright living in New York City. Her plays include Mrs. Stern Wanders the Prussian State Library (Luna Stage) ("powerful and timely!"\u2014Voice of America), Equally Divine (Theatre at the 14th St. Y), In Flight (Turn to Flesh Productions), and None of the Above (New Georges). One-acts include Worldness (Humana Festival of New American Plays), Miss America (NY Int\u2019l Fringe Festival/\u201dBest of Fringe\u201d selection), Anniversary Season (Mona Bismarck Center, Paris), and My First Time (Voting Writes). A Harvard graduate, she has received the \u201cBest Documentary One-Woman Show\u201d Award (United Solo Fest); Athena Playwriting Fellowship; and the O\u2019Neill Center\u2019s Edith Oliver Award for a playwright who has, in the spirit of the late New Yorker critic, \u201ca caustic wit that deflates the ego but does not unduly damage the human spirit.\u201d For This Is Not a Theatre Company, she wrote Tree Confessions (w/ Kathleen Chalfant), which has streamed on five continents; International Local: 7 (Subway Plays app); co-authored Caf\xe9 Play (Cornelia St. Caf\xe9) and Play in Your Bathtub 2.0, and wrote Guru of Touch (Edinburgh Festival Fringe). Her work has been published by Dramatists Play Service, Smith + Kraus, Applause, Vintage, W.W. Norton, The Lincoln Center Theater Review, Plays International + Europe, and The New York Times, where she served as a frequent contributor to the "Week in Review.\u201d She has written commissioned scripts for Laura Ziskin Productions/WB Network, NBC Studios/NBC, and HBO, where she developed a pilot with Billy Crystal. A Harvard graduate, she has been a frequent contributor to the NY Times "Week in Review" and a Lark playwriting fellow, nominated by Wendy Wasserstein. She belongs to the Dramatists Guild, the Authors Guild, the League of Professional Theatre Women, and Honor Roll.\nGather by the Ghost Light merch available at\xa0Home | Gather by the Ghost Light (bigcartel.com)\nIf you would like to further support this podcast, please visit\xa0Gather by the Ghost Light is increasing public knowledge of emerging writers and actors (buymeacoffee.com)\nIf you are associated with a theatre and would like to perform this play, please send an email to info@gatherbytheghostlight.com to get connected with the playwright.\nIf you enjoy this podcast, please please please leave a rating on your preferred podcast app!\nGather by the Ghost Light\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices