Coffee bar tales: Seedlings serves up ‘Fresh Brewed’ show | Theatre

The hopes Seedlings Theatre Company’s director Becky Jascoviak has for her production of “Fresh Brewed: Tales from the Coffee Bar” are straightforward.

“I think it shows (audiences) that you can have a conversation and still be friends at the end,” she said.

Jascoviak’s husband and play co-director, Jerry Jascoviak, sums up his goals for the show in one word.

«Fresh Brewed» opens Feb. 11 and runs through Feb. 20 at Hammond’s Beatniks on Conkey. The show is a series of 11 vignettes, all taking place within the confines of a coffee shop. Some of the topics discussed in the play cover sensitive subjects such as a couple’s breakup and family secrets.

The tales found in “Fresh” were penned by American playwright Henry Meyerson, whose CV includes acclaimed works such as “The Secret Life of Seagulls,» “The Last Falcon” and “Proceed to Check-Out.” “Fresh Brewed» was published in 2008 and has been brought to stages throughout the country ever since.

Seedlings had initially planned to bring the show to stages in 2020 but held off as a result of the pandemic.

“I am always drawn to shows that are about deep conversation,” Becky Jascoviak said. “I feel like it’s something missing in our society, where you can sit down and have a vivo conversation with somebody without walking on eggshells or feeling like you have to mince words. I’m drawn to that clever and witty dialogue.”

For “Fresh Brewed,” the Jascoviaks assembled a cast of 10 thesps – Michael DePriest Reed, Kristin Duncan, Michael Zuccarelli, Marilyn Catinella, Donna Rowland, Dean Johanson, Jerry Golvidis, Rea Robinson, Terry McLaughlin and Mike Johnson. Each of the actors will take on different characters in the short monologues over the course of the Beatniks run.

“Each cast member has three performances between these six shows,” Becky Jascoviak said. “They’re switching parts between each performance so that everybody has a backup. We did that for Covid, we did that for weather. We did that to make sure that we’re going to have a show.

“Knowing some of these actors for years, some of their interpretations of these characters completely caught me off guard in a good way,“ Jerry Jascoviak added.

Due to language and subject matter, “Fresh Brewed: Tales from the Coffee Bar” is not recommended for young or sensitive audiences.