Social support meets substance abuse in hand-to-hand combat. And the winner is?
Addiction. Relationships. Recovery. Redemption. And one awesome coffee shop. Get ready to rock as the Hard Luck Café welcomes you with camaraderie, laughter, and, its own special brand of “griddle therapy.”
Welcome to The Hard Luck Café where the coffee is strong and the beat is hot. Join recovering alcoholics Joe and Mimi as they offer Cynthia and other lost souls fresh out of rehab a safe place to get back on their feet and reinvent themselves.
Will Cynthia’s job keep her on the journey to reinvention? Or will she be derailed by the anger of her teen-aged daughter, Katie?
Nine years after it was last produced as an 85 minute Equity Showcase in New York, musical theater students at the Catholic University of America (CUA), under the direction of Jay Brock and musical direction by Elisa Rosman, performed the entire 130 minute play, including a dozen more songs, for the first time. Thank you to the cast and everyone (see Team), who gave it their all and made this a birthday that can never be topped! I’m beyond grateful to them and to the family and friends who were there to support all of us.
Welcome to the Hard Luck Cafe
was presented by
the Musical Theatre Department at
CUA in Washington D.C. on
Nov. 15th-16th, 2024
Directed by Jay Brock
Music Direction and piano by Elisa Rosman
Dakota Kaylor, Drums; Rick Peralta, Guitar.
Musical arrangements by Jeff Severson, Matthew Brown, Trevor Pierce,
Zak Sandler and Jonathan Tuzman
Choreography by Sarah-Frances Williams
NEW!!!!
Watch the video of the full workshop production and see the great work that these students, Under the Direction of Jay BRock and the creative team, did with Less than three weeks of rehearsal:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Flo6wqOmpA
See individual videos of all the songs in the workshop by clicking on “About the Show” above, and choosing “Workshop song videos.”
An 85 minute Equity Showcase of Welcome to the Hard Luck Café was a finalist for Best New Play at the 2015 Thespis Theatre Festival, Hudson Guild Theatre, New York City. Our Director, Debra Whitfield, was named Best Director!
"An excellent sense of community is established in Welcome to the Hard Luck Café."
StageBuddy.com
Read short reviews of the six finalists at:
http://stagebuddy.com/reviews/review-thespis-theater-festival-2015
NOTE: Neither an Equity Showcase, as a shortened version of a longer script, or a workshop production, disqualify a musical from having a future World Premier. We’d love to have one!