Jonathan and The Good Deli, Performed in Repertory

Directed by Brad Reinking, Jonathan is about a young man with autism who is working at a big-box store the week before Christmas.  But as the holiday season heats up, his personal aspirations are at odds with the reality of how he is treated.  Will Jonathan push to keep his job, or give up?  Will his employer help him succeed, or get rid of him? Jonathan will ask audiences to consider what we really believe in America: about adults with disabilities, about employment, and about the creature comforts of a retail economy.

Directed by Allison Olivia Choat, The Good Deli centers on Julia, an up-and-coming Boston comedian whose career is building even as her life is falling apart. It’s a night like any other until Julia’s stepmom calls in a panic – her estranged father is on his deathbed. Julia rushes to his side, only to find him seemingly the same wise-ass curmudgeon he always was – except now he’s obsessed with the Italian deli the family visited when Julia was a child. With moral support from an unlikely group of allies, including a former priest, an exotic dancer, and her nerdy brother Max, Julia hits the road to find the mythical deli and give her father the sandwich of his dreams. It all seemed like a great idea, but now her entire family is in tow, they’re running out of caffeine, and they’re hitting every red light from Maine to Boston, all while trying to reconnect to a deli – and a past – that may be lost forever.