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Culinary coordinators…what do they do?

Posted by DCA Theater on February 19, 2009 in January-June 2009 Season, The Arab-Israeli Cookbook

By Judith Dunbar-Hines

Looking over your program for The Arab-Israeli Cookbook, you may notice mention of Culinary coordinators… so what do they do? Order pizza for the crew? Not exactly!

If you’ve ever cooked dinner while helping the kids do homework and ironing a clean shirt for tomorrow, you can empathize with actors in this play who have to cook somewhat complicated and unfamiliar foods while delivering their lines, hitting their marks—and while 100 people are watching.

Our job was to help them do that and make it look easy! As Director of Culinary Arts & Events for the Department of Cultural Affairs, I was asked to help with the production of the March offering at the Storefront Theater. My assistant, JoAnn, and I started weeks ahead. While the director was casting— and explaining to would-be actors that yes, they had to actually cook while on-stage—we were meeting with the director, reading the script, finding proper equipment, teaching the actors, suggesting ways to make the food come together seamlessly with the script, timing, set, and props.

We set up a kitchen and worked with the cast and crew on the recipes suggested by the play and provided by the playwright in a separate companion cookbook. We talked about how the character Nadia should appear to have rolled thousands of grape leaves around a filling in her lifetime, so the actress needed to be able to do it automatically. And then we helped her practice. On the other hand, in another scene, Daniel and Alon were eager if not proficient in entertaining their guest and they were intent on doing something “different” by making a Thai meal instead of Middle Eastern food. The actors would need to look a little bit awkward, even after doing this 20 times on stage. So we rehearsed the special timing as they cooked the dish in rehearsal.

Then we cooked together, enjoyed the food together, and eventually rejoiced in a successful play. 

Julian Martinez, JoAnn Relf, Stephen Loch, and Judith Dunbar-Hines

Later, we re-wrote the recipes to make them work within the confines and format of our hands-on cooking class at World Kitchen, where students will prepare several of the show’s recipes. That class, on April 4, will be taught by JoAnn and me, plus Didem Tapban, our friend from Turkey. For more information or to register, click here.

Food has always been the way to bring disparate people together. “Come to the Table” is not just a catch phrase, but the way in which this playwright got into the minds and homes of two cultures and got them to share their innermost hopes and fears. That’s been going on for centuries. 

Rarely is this so graphically shown on stage, however. In this play, real food, real kitchen equipment, real smells are the background for real people’s real thoughts. While you enjoy the play, we hope you don’t notice the hours of work that went into those things, but that they just are, just a part of the story. Then we’ve done our work.

Oh, and PS: If the play makes you hungry, be sure to check out the list of some Chicago restaurants offering Middle Eastern food. The city’s Culinary Concierges compiled a list and will be handing it out at the show— visit one or more of their suggestions after the show, or another day. Simply sharing a meal can bring more peace and harmony than any international and political movement. Try it!