LAFPI

EAT ME
by Talene Monahon

directed by Caitlin Sullivan

World Premiere
Part of the Pacific Playwrights Festival

Chris loves fine cuisine. He spends hours in a corner of the internet where like-minded foodies share their extraordinary culinary experiences. Stevie doesn’t eat fish with souls, Beatrice and Jen just baked a flax loaf and Cindy might have salad, later. In this wildly imaginative play by one of The New York Times’ Rising Theatre Stars of 2023, everyone is longing for something that makes them feel full—and when the meal is over, maybe they’ll be transformed.

Eat Me takes a look at the little-known psychological disorder known as Gourmand Syndrome, which is described as “a sudden, intense obsession with fine food and gourmet dining, typically following damage to the right anterior brain hemisphere. Patients develop a passion for eating, talking about, or preparing high-quality food, often accompanied by increased impulse control issues regarding food.”

Previews: Apr. 12 – 16, 2026
Opening Night: Apr. 17, 2026
Regular Performances: Apr. 18 – May 3, 2026
American Sign Language Performance: Saturday, Apr. 25, 2026, at 2 p.m.

Recommendation: Ages 16+

The Playwright

A Brooklyn-based playwright and actor, Monahon (IG handle: @talenemonahon) pursued theatre after winning the English Speaking Union’s National Shakespeare Competition while in high school. Winning the competition sent Monahon to Oxford for a summer studying Shakespeare. Her work has been produced Off-Broadway at Bedlam Theater, New Ohio and MCC, regionally at Trinity Repertory, Shakespeare Theatre Company (Washington, D.C.) and Peterborough Players, and internationally at Jermyn Street Theatre in London.

Her plays have been widely praised for bringing a nuanced and engaging lens to little-know historical events—and bringing those works into focus with humor inspired by everyone from Christopher Durang to Mel Brooks and Monty Python. The Good John Proctor was named one of The New Yorker’s “Top 10 Best Plays of 2023” and How to Load a Musket was tabbed as one of “The 10 Best Theater Productions of 2020” by TheaterMania. The New York Times called Monahon’s Meet the Cartozians “a richly layered and deeply engrossing work,” adding “Monahon has constructed a wildly funny piece that plays as pure entertainment.”

The Director

The New York City-based Sullivan (@caitesull) collaborated with Monahon on the world premiere of The Good John Proctor at Off-Broadway’s Bedlam Theatre Company. Her other directing credits include The Antiquities (Playwright’s Horizons and Goodman Theater), the Obie Award-winning The Keep Going Songs (LCT3), Find Me Here (Clubbed Thumb), Nova (The Lyceum Edinburgh and Pemberly) United States vs. Gupta (JACK and New Georges), WORK HARD HAVE FUN MAKE HISTORY (Clubbed Thumb) and Sanctuary City (New York Theatre Workshop), among others.

Sullivan was a founding member and artistic director of Seattle’s critically acclaimed Satori Group, an alum of the Drama League Directors Project, and a former Clubbed Thumb Directing Fellow. She is a graduate of Williams College.

The Cast

Eat Me features Jake Borelli (Stevie), Sheldon D. Brown (Chris), Ann Gee Byrd (Cindy), Carolyn Ratteray (Jen), Kacie Rogers (Beatrice) and Jeorge Bennett Watson (The Gourmand).