“Fat Girls, Interrupted,” a new play by two-time Grammy-nominated comedian/author Lisa Lampanelli, will receive a reading on Saturday, March 19, at 8 p.m., at Westport Country Playhouse, it was announced today.
Lisa Lampanelli: “Comedy’s Lovable Queen of Mean.” (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Contributed photo
Lampanelli has requested that proceeds benefit The Center for Family Justice in Bridgeport.
The cast will include Lampanelli as well as Broadway actress Lisa Howard, TV and film veteran Patricia Kalember, and newcomer Jessica Luck.
“Fat Girls, Interrupted” tackles weight, body image, and food issues from the perspective of four very different women with four very different problems, an announcement said.
Delivered both in monologues and as interactions between the characters, the stories the four women tell are full of humor, soul, passion, and will resonate with everyone who has struggled with food issues—-or indeed, an addiction or compulsion of any kind, it said.
“The play will do for weight and food issues what ‘The Vagina Monologues’ did for women’s nether-regions,” said Lampanelli.
Comedian/writer/actor Lisa Lampanelli is best-known as “Comedy’s Lovable Queen of Mean.”
According to Playbill, she has been outspoken about her decision to have gastric sleeve surgery in 2012, which resulted in the comedian having lost more than 100 pounds.
“Fat Girls, Interrupted” is the first in a series of four plays she is penning about important issues to women.
A regular on Sirius satellite radio’s “The Howard Stern Show,” Lampanelli has appeared on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” “Late Show with David Letterman,” “Chelsea Lately,” “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” “The Dr. Oz Show,” and “Good Morning America.”
She was also a member of the cast of NBC’s “Celebrity Apprentice,” Season 5, raising $130,000 for her charity, the Gay Men’s Health Crisis.
She has also been nominated twice for Grammy Awards for “Best Comedy Album,” and has six, one-hour televised specials, including her HBO special, “Long Live The Queen.”
All artists are subject to change, the announcement said, adding that the play contains adult language. Additional material in the play was contributed by Ashley Austin Morris.
Tickets are $25 (tier three seating), $50 (tier two), and $100 (tier one and post-reading “Meet the Cast” dessert reception in the Playhouse’s White Barn Center). The reading runs 90-minutes with no intermission.
Proceeds will benefit Lampanelli’s chosen charity The Center for Family Justice in Bridgeport.
The organization strives to break the cycle of abuse and violence –- domestic, sexual, and child—by providing services that create hope, restore lives, and drive social change through education and community collaboration, according to the announcement.
The event committee includes Roe Chlala, Galia Gichon Clemens, Mary Dobson, Jill Fitzburgh, Jerri Graham, Jane Green, Anne Keefe, Nancy Lessard, Joan Nevin, Kathy Oberman, Anna Rodrigues, Bari Alyse Rudin, Diane Sembrot, Marjorie Treisman, Allison Ziering Walmark, and Nancy Wilson.
For more information and to buy tickets, visit http://www.westportplayhouse.org or call the box office at (203) 227-4177, toll-free at 1-888-927-7529, or visit Westport Country Playhouse, 25 Powers Court, off Route 1, Westport.
