Finding Humor in Food Fixation
Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor will present “Stuffed,” a new comedy about food, fat, and fearlessness written by and starring Lisa Lampanelli, a two-time Grammy nominee, on Saturday evening at 8. The venue will barely have time to catch its breath before launching the three-week run of “The Last Night of Ballyhoo,” its second Mainstage production of the season, on Tuesday evening.
“Stuffed,” which will also feature Lisa Howard, tackles issues of weight, body image, and food from the perspective of four different women with four different problems. Delivered in both monologues and interactions between the characters, the play will resonate not only with the food-obsessed but also with those who experience addiction or compulsion of any kind. A theater press release suggests the play will do for weight and food issues what “The Vagina Monologues” did for . . . well, you get the idea.
“Stuffed” is the first in a series of four plays Ms. Lampanelli is writing about issues important to women. A regular on “The Howard Stern Show,” the comedian, writer, and actor has appeared on “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno,” “Late Show With David Letterman,” “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” and “Good Morning America.” Her Grammy nominations were for Best Comedy Album, and her six televised specials include HBO’s “Long Live the Queen.” Tickets are priced from $69.25 to $125.
“The Last Night of Ballyhoo,” the Tony Award-winning play written by Alfred Uhry and directed by Will Pomerantz, will run from Tuesday through July 24. Set in Atlanta in 1939, when “Gone With the Wind” is having its premiere and Hitler is invading Poland, the play centers around the city’s assimilated, well-to-do German Jews, who are preoccupied with who will attend Ballyhoo, the lavish ball at the Jewish country club.
When a handsome Eastern European bachelor from Brooklyn arrives on the scene, the upper-class family’s beliefs, prejudices, and desires are thrown into disarray as they must face where they came from and who they really are.
Show times are 7 p.m. on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays, 8 p.m. on most Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. Matinees will take place July 10, 17, and 24 at 2. Tickets to the play range from $25 to $125.
The theater has also issued a call for volunteers to serve as ushers for the Mainstage season, the Comedy Club, Shakespeare in the Park, the summer benefit, and other programs and events. All ushers receive complimentary seating at shows, if available, and can attend dress rehearsals.