It’s been 5 years (Really?  Hardly seems possible) since Open Source Gallery’s first Soup Kitchen.  I know that after the horrible fire on Fifth Avenue, I hosted a Soup Kitchen night in my apartment-  I think that was year #3.  My play, Mi Tigre, My Lover, opened the new gallery space up the block last year.   My dog Augie and I will be serving soup 7-9 on Tuesday, along with Christmas cookies.  I’ll also read a monologue from my Christmas play, Let Nothing You Dismay.  Or, rather, I am hoping to-  I have laryngitis at the moment, but I trust I’ll have a voice by Tuesday night.  The thing I love most about the Soup Kitchen is that I meet such interesting people.  Every time.  I’ve had conversations about art, food, recipes, the nabe, the dog, everything you can imagine.  Please come on Tuesday- it’s free, and the soup (I did a test run on Friday) is excellent.  It’s nice to have a friend who’s a chef (Giuliano Hazan was my scene partner in grad school).  Press release follows.  

Playwright Serves Soup and Reads

On Tuesday, December 11, Brooklyn playwright Anne Phelan will host Open Source Gallery's fifth annual Soup Kitchen.  Soup will be served 7-9PM. This event is free.  All are welcome.  Phelan will serve Giuliano Hazan’s Leek and Chickpea Soup (from his How to Cook Italian), and read an excerpt from her play about the holidays, Let Nothing You Dismay. 

Phelan is an award-winning produced and published playwright.  She was Playwright-in-Residence at the William Inge Theatre Festival in October and November.  The Festival workshopped her play The Benders (about the first U.S. serial killers), featuring Tony Award-winning actress Cady Huffman.  Phelan has had 4 plays produced at Open Source, the most recent of which was a September reading of The Tiger Play, which grew out of Open Source's exhibit of Naoe Suzuki’s work Mi Tigre, My Lover. 

Monika Wuhrer and Gary Baldwin are the curators of Open Source Gallery.  The Open Source Soup Kitchen seeks artists, cooks, friends, and neighbors to join them for a month of cooking, eating, sharing, and celebrating. For as many nights of the month as they have volunteers, they will provide the cookware and utensils and the volunteer chef will be responsible for the “one-pot meal” of the night. They welcome all kinds of unique dishes from any ethnic tradition.

Volunteers each choose a night and cook for approximately 15-20 people. Usually dishes are a soup or stew. The cook is also responsible for providing an artistic element to incorporate into the evening. In the past, participants have displayed photographs on the walls, read monologues, or played music. While the volunteers do not necessarily have to be artists, it is encouraged. Those who attend the soup kitchen vary from neighbors to artists to others who are down on their luck or simply hungry. Not a traditional soup kitchen, this event focuses on conversation, community, and art. Sometimes the conversation flows easily, and sometimes not, but the food is nearly always tasty (it’s New York, after all – we have standards!). So join us for good food, good art, and good conversation.  If you are interested in volunteering to cook for the Soup Kitchen, there are still slots available.  Please respond to contact@opensourcegallery.org.  Open Source Gallery is located at 306 17th Street (near Sixth Avenue) in Park Slope, Brooklyn.