Play Reading: Hotdish by Brendan Healy

Written by Brendan Healy
Directed by Gabrielle Schutz
Performed by Casey Galligan, Linda Murphy, Brian LaVallee, Jameson Batt, and Elyse Sinklier

About the Play: Kayla is feeling increasingly trapped by her collapsing family. Her unemployed older brother, Toby, has moved in with her. Instead of applying for jobs and looking for his own place, Toby invests all his efforts in auditioning for his favorite reality TV cooking show. After the bank forecloses on their mother’s (Evelyn’s) condo, she is also forced to move in. Seeking some sort of escape from the tension in her crowded townhouse, Kayla begins a secret affair with her ex-husband Kevin. All the while, Toby has become so absorbed in imaginary cooking challenges and conversations with the glamourous host of his favorite TV cooking show that he risks losing his grip on reality entirely. When that same host appears to the family for a final showdown of casseroles and keening, they will all face the heartaches and secrets that have made it so hard for this family to love each other.

The Playwright: Brendan Healy’s short plays have been produced all across America, while productions of his full-length works have gone up in Chicago, Minneapolis, and Seattle. He is a four-time finalist and one-time recipient of the Heideman Award from Actors Theatre of Louisville. His play Picnic (pik’nik’): v.i. was published by Playscripts, Inc., and Rain City Projects included his play The Secret Recordings of Lenin to His Lost Love Mary Anne of Topeka, KS in one of their anthologies. His play Suffering, Inc. was declared one of the seven top plays of the decade by The Seattle Times. Some of his other full-length works include Relatively We, Hotdish, City of Presidents, Mangrove Park, Not/Our Town, and two children’s plays.