BY EM WILLIAMS ’28

Under a warm light, two people sat at a round table with a basket of bread to share between them.

This was the scene I walked into when I took my seat in Studio A of the Janet Kinghorn Bernhard Theater to see FOR A LIMITED TIME ONLY (The Bread Play) written by Daniel Prillaman, which played April 7th and 8th in Studio A and was directed by Hunter Wolf (‘25), and stage managed by Gray Birchby (‘28). Surrounded by the soundscape of Italian music, I could only wonder what could be “for a limited time” and what power a basket of bread had to grant the play its name. Nothing could have prepared me for the adventure that I was in for when the lights dimmed, leaving a spotlight on the principal players.

The play followed a romantic couple, Arlo (Tommy Cattalani ‘28) and Val (Chloe Bonaguide ‘27), at the end of their meal in the Italian Garden Factory. Stuffed, and not too reluctant to stay to wait out their uncomfortableness, the couple asked for the check. Each time they asked, however, they were met with excuses from their server (Maggie Krieg ‘25) who would appear and reappear with a new reason why their departure had to be delayed, which only made Val more impatient.

Nevertheless, the couple found ways to break the tension when the server would retreat to the back. Val and Arlo’s initial conversation quickly deviated from the dread of eating carbs to, well, eating something else—much to the audience’s amusement. I could not stop laughing as the couple delved into their intimate banter. But, in retrospect, I also realized that this raunchy exchange established the relationship between Val and Arlo. Through their euphemistic words, there was a sense of trust and commitment to one another that I couldn’t help but admire. It was clear from the start that Val and Arlo were a true pair who would go to the ends of the earth for each other, and their bond only continued to strengthen as the story progressed.

After a few more back and forths between the couple, the server returned for the nth time and Val became impatient, demanding for the check—even suggesting to pay in cash. In response, however, the server told them the withheld bad news upon giving them another basket: they cannot leave until they eat all the bread. Unbeknownst to them, the $5.99 unlimited bread deal that Arlo and Val paid for only stopped once there was no more bread. The reveal was all the more disruptive by Krieg’s shift in temperament from inviting to intimidating, sending crickets through the audience.

Suddenly, the studio was no longer full of chuckles and grins, but rather of pure concern for the couple. Sick of the restaurant’s mind games, Val gave up on the bread and stood to leave the table. Bonaguide did a great job at commanding the tone of the scene and put Val’s agitated personality on full display as she frighteningly sought an escape route out of the restaurant, knowing that it would be impossible for them to finish the bread. Cattalani, on the other hand, wonderfully contrasted her franticness with Arlo’s stoicism as he attempted to calm Val down. 

As the couple traveled around the room, they left their sheltered table cornered by the audience and ran to the curtained walls of Studio A to try and seek a way out. The immersive journey through the studio made me feel as if we, the audience, were behind glass looking at a pair of lab rats scurrying across the floor in their enclosure. There was nothing we could do for them and they had no means to leave. With no door in sight, Val devised a plan to harm the server in order to knock them off guard, much to Arlo’s discontent, so they could check the back of the restaurant. After unsuccessfully trying to fatally harm the server with a bread knife, the couple made their break for the back, but again, no doors, only a brick wall.

Realizing that there were no exits and they were unable to challenge the number of bread baskets, Val and Arlo accepted their fate and sat back down. Suddenly time began to move as visually told through a series of black outs with each new skip illustrating how the two were sinking further into insanity, from Val mentioning how the cat must be dead to Arlo crying how at least during physical intimacy, Val doesn’t taste like bread. These segments left me equally tickled and horrified at how bread—a beloved complementary food—could destroy two people’s lives. Though, despite their reservations with their newfound life, the couple finds enough comfort in the space to settle down as Val gives birth to a baby girl with the aid of the server. I had my head in my hands at this point in pure shock and hilarity at how the couple chose to navigate their imprisoned restaurant life. But, yet again, the comedy of the scene underlined another important message for all of us to remind ourselves of: that through every curveball in life, we can persevere and continue to define our destiny, no matter the circumstance.

Val and Arlo then shared a conversation about their experience in the restaurant. Arlo reflected on a dream he had about the pair growing old together without their daughter in it and even though they were content, he blamed himself for the mess they got into. Val reassured him that it was not his fault and that if this was their life now, then so be it. Solidifying my perceived feelings about how much closer they have become in captivity, she continued by saying that they deserved to live their lives to the fullest and that no one can take that away from them. The bond that Cattalani and Bonaguide portrayed through Arlo and Val was truly a joy to watch, and this moment really spoke to how strong love can be.

The server reappeared and took a seat with the couple, but not without a reason. In a turn of events, the server told Val and Arlo that someone must leave as their unlimited bread deal only accommodates two people—not three. When the server left to allow the couple to make their decision, Val and Arlo, knowing they do not want to leave each other, contemplated the choice between letting their daughter live free from their imprisonment or buying a third unlimited bread deal to keep the family together. Both options could be seen as selfish or selfless depending on how the viewer perceived it, but also posed an unperceivable future: one where they could only know their daughter for a limited amount of time or the other where they could know her for an unlimited amount of time. As if trying to push themselves towards the decision, the couple recollected on the time they spent apart in their relationship and how much they had missed each other. At the end of their conversation, they repeated the words they used to describe the unlimited bread deal: “hell of a deal.” Though, it appeared to me that they no longer saw the bread that way, but rather the time they had with each other—united against all odds. When the waiter returned, asking if they needed a few minutes, Val replied as if she was ordering another item off the menu. “No, I think we’re ready,” to which the server said the final line, “Great, what will it be?”

Horrific through its setting, romantic through its characters, and comedic through its consistent tone, FOR A LIMITED TIME ONLY (the Bread Play) was a performance for all corners and crevices of the theater community. Through the play’s mixture of fun and frenzy, Wolf’s direction effectively illustrated not only how the simplest food deal can flip one’s world upside down, but also how human beings can unite even in the darkest of situations and still remain in high spirits as they continue to strive forward and face their challenges together. Even as I entered the lobby outside Studio A, I felt that same positive energy as the audience gathered together to discuss the possibilities of what decision Arlo and Val came to in the end. Though for a limited time only in its performances, the play was unlimited in its unforgettable characters and open-ended mystery that the audience couldn’t seem to get enough of.

Photos by Logan Waugh

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Em Williams ’28 is a staff writer for the Skidmore Theater Living Newsletter