The A.C.T. Master of Fine Arts Program presents

The Big Meal
by Dan LeFranc
Directed by Ryan Purcell

February 24–27, 2016

Family is not a word, it’s a seating chart in this delicious and provocative comedy. Playwright Dan LeFranc orients the drama around four generations of a single family loving and laughing, fighting and yelling over a series of meals. While the passing of time in LeFranc’s world is fluid (this feels like a modern cousin of Thornton Wilder’s The Long Christmas Dinner), the meals are quick and casual—a moveable feast. One moment, two young lovers are hooking up over cocktails, the next moment, they’re middle-aged and clashing about their kids. With characters that develop, flip, and shift, The Big Meal serves up a thought-provoking feast for audiences.

“A life-in-overdrive comic drama . . . Dan LeFranc’s snappy dialogue captures the tumultuous tenor of family gatherings.”—Charles Isherwood, The New York Times

Performances take place in The Rueff at A.C.T.’s Strand Theater, 1127 Market Street, San Francisco.