South Coast Repertory Presents
Eat Me by Talene Monahon
by: Brian Robin
Published: March 12, 2026
Talene Monahon
COSTA MESA...South Coast Repertory (Artistic Director David Ivers and Managing Director Suzanne Appel) serves up a provocative story of appetite and fulfillment from one of the most exciting writers in American theatre, the world premiere of Eat Me by Talene Monahon. Directed by Caitlin Sullivan, the bold new play runs on the Julianne Argyros Stage April 12-May 3 and is one of the anchor productions of the 2026 Pacific Playwrights Festival.
With Eat Me, SCR continues its annual tradition of spotlighting the hottest emerging voices in American theatre. Monahon’s SCR debut comes after her play Meet the Cartozians enjoyed a successful and critically acclaimed Off-Broadway run last fall at Second Stage Theater. In 2023, The New York Times named Monahon a Rising Theatre Star.
“I’m a big fan of Talene Monahon. Her play, Eat Me, exemplifies why she is on the rise as an important voice in the American theatre,” Ivers said. “Her writing is quietly urgent, profoundly contemporary, humorous and touching. Eat Me explores a very specific relationship to food, exposing undeniable truths about how we relate to our bodies—a great addition to the SCR roster.”
The Play
Eat Me takes a look at the little-known psychological disorder known as Gourmand Syndrome, which is described as “a sudden, intense obsession with fine food and gourmet dining, typically following damage to the right anterior brain hemisphere. Patients develop a passion for eating, talking about, or preparing high-quality food, often accompanied by increased impulse control issues regarding food.”
Chris loves fine cuisine. He spends hours in a corner of the internet where like-minded foodies share their extraordinary culinary experiences. Stevie doesn’t eat fish with souls, Beatrice and Jen just baked a flax loaf and Cindy might have salad, later. In this wildly imaginative play, everyone is longing for something that makes them feel full—and when the meal is over, maybe they’ll be transformed. Eat Me enjoyed a successful reading at last year’s Pacific Playwrights Festival.
Monahon’s interest in writing a play about food and obsession was sparked after a friend showed her a profile of a man on a dating app who had Gourmand Syndrome.
“Everyone has a complicated relationship with food. It’s impossible to be a human being and not have one,” Monahon said. “… That felt so unique, specialized and strange. It felt like an interesting kind of premise for a play, to look at food obsession and desire. … But I don’t think of it as a play about just eating disorders. I think of it as a play about desire, obsession, bodies and autonomy over our bodies.”
“Talene has really tapped into something so primal with this play—we all have to eat, and we all have very specific things we like and don’t like. Audiences will find this play charming and relatable. Whether you live to eat or eat to live, you’ll find community in our audience. We hope you’ll make a special night out of dinner and the theatre with Talene Monahon’s Eat Me. What could be a better combination?”
The Playwright
A Brooklyn-based playwright and actor, Monahon (IG handle: @talenemonahon) pursued theatre after winning the English Speaking Union’s National Shakespeare Competition while in high school. Winning the competition sent Monahon to Oxford for a summer studying Shakespeare. Her work has been produced Off-Broadway at Bedlam Theater, New Ohio and MCC, regionally at Trinity Repertory, Shakespeare Theatre Company (Washington, D.C.) and Peterborough Players, and internationally at Jermyn Street Theatre in London.
Her plays have been widely praised for bringing a nuanced and engaging lens to little-know historical events—and bringing those works into focus with humor inspired by everyone from Christopher Durang to Mel Brooks and Monty Python. The Good John Proctor was named one of The New Yorker’s “Top 10 Best Plays of 2023” and How to Load a Musket was tabbed as one of “The 10 Best Theater Productions of 2020” by TheaterMania. The New York Times called Monahon’s Meet the Cartozians “a richly layered and deeply engrossing work,” adding “Monahon has constructed a wildly funny piece that plays as pure entertainment.”
The Director
The New York City-based Sullivan (@caitesull) collaborated with Monahon on the world premiere of The Good John Proctor at Off-Broadway’s Bedlam Theatre Company. Her other directing credits include The Antiquities (Playwright’s Horizons and Goodman Theater), the Obie Award-winning The Keep Going Songs (LCT3), Find Me Here (Clubbed Thumb), Nova (The Lyceum Edinburgh and Pemberly, United States vs. Gupta (JACK and New Georges), WORK HARD HAVE FUN MAKE HISTORY (Clubbed Thumb) and Sanctuary City (New York Theatre Workshop), among others. Sullivan was a founding member and artistic director of Seattle’s critically acclaimed Satori Group, an alum of the Drama League Directors Project, and a former Clubbed Thumb Directing Fellow. She is a graduate of Williams College.
The Cast
Eat Me features Jake Borelli (Stevie), Sheldon D. Brown (Chris), Ann Gee Byrd (Cindy), Carolyn Ratteray (Jen), Kacie Rogers (Beatrice) and Jeorge Bennett Watson (The Gourmand).
Borelli (@jake.borelli) makes his SCR debut coming off an eight-year stint as a series regular on “Grey’s Anatomy,” where he played the show’s first openly gay male doctor, Dr. Levi Schmitt. His past theatre credits include the Antaeus Theatre Company’s production of Picnic and Paris Barclay’s production of The Normal Heart. Borelli’s other television and film credits include Nickelodeon’s “The Thundermans,” Netflix’s #REALITYHIGH and The Thing About Harry on Freeform.
Making his SCR debut, Brown (@sbterance) has been a mainstay in the Chicago theatre. His theatre credits include Fat Ham (Goodwin Theatre), Choir Boy and 1919 (Steppenwolf Theatre), and Othello, Oedipus, and Man In The Ring (Court Theatre). He also appeared in the national tour of A Soldier’s Play. He earned a Spirit Award nomination for his screenplay Cicada, which opened in Europe at the BFI London Film Festival, before a limited 2021 release in the United States.
Byrd (@agbyrd15) returns to the role of Cindy which she played during the 2025 Pacific Playwright’s Festival reading. SCR audiences previous saw her as Mrs. Higgens in Pygmalion and as the mother in The Beauty Queen of Leenane. Her extensive theatre credits include performances at Mark Taper Forum, Kirk Douglas Theatre, Geffen Playhouse, Pasadena Playhouse, La Mirada Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, The Old Globe, Seattle Repertory, Ensemble Theatre, ACT in San Francisco, American Shakespeare Theatre, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Indiana Repertory and Antaeus Theater Company, where she is a member. A winner of four Drama Critics Circle Awards, Byrd has also appeared in such television shows as “911,” “NCIS: Los Angeles,” “How to Get Away With Murder,” “Lucky Hank,” “Shameless,” and “Rake.”
Ratteray (@carolynratteray) is an Emmy Award-nominated actor with numerous television and film credits, including “The Lincoln Lawyer,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Riley Parra,” “NCIS,” “All My Children,” “Law & Order: Criminal Intent,” “Chemistry,” “Castle,” and “The Young and the Restless,” among others. Her theatre credits include productions at Mark Taper Forum, Geffen Playhouse, Pasadena Playhouse, A Noise Within, Antaeus Theatre Company, Echo Theatre Company, The Old Globe, the Pearl Theatre Company and the Classical Theatre of Harlem. This is her first SCR production.
Rogers (@kacie.rogers) is a two-time NAACP Award-winning actor, writer, producer and voice artist. She is currently recurring on season two of HBO Max’s hit series, “The Pitt.” Other television credits include “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “Grace & Frankie,” “Grand Crew” and “Home Economics.” Rogers’ theatre credits include The Heal (The Getty Villa), Furlough’s Paradise (Geffen Playhouse), The Bluest Eye and King Hedley II (A Noise Within), Berta, Berta (Echo Theater Company) and Octopus’s Garden (Boston Court Pasadena). This is her first SCR production.
Watson (@thejeorgeennettwatson) brings a more than a 30-year career in theatre to his SCR debut. His most recent role was Johnny Pierce in the world premiere of Relentless at Syracuse Stage. Watson’s theatre credits include The Piano Lesson (Arena Stage), Two Trains Running (Hartford Stage) and repertory performances in Coriolanus and Timon of Athens at Utah Shakespeare Festival, among many others. His television credits include “The Wire,” “Blue Bloods,” and “Law & Order: Organized Crime.”
The Creative Team
The design and creative team includes Nicholas Ponting, scenic design; Samantha C. Jones, costume design; Isabella Byrd, lighting design; evan cook, sound design and Eric Shethar, dramaturg. Maisie Chan is the production manager and Angela Lopes is the stage manager. Casting is by The Telsey Office (Brian Sutow, CSA and Rose Bochner, CSA).
Eat Me received generous support from Season Producers Apriem Advisors and Honorary Producers Nickie and Mickey Williams and The Playwrights Circle (Sandy Segerstrom Daniels, S. Leslie Jewert & Patrick Paddon).
Tickets are now on sale and range in price from $36 to $139, with additional discounts available for educators, seniors and theatregoers ages 25 and under. Tickets may be purchased online at www.scr.org or by phone at (714) 708-5555. More information is available at www.scr.org.
Location: South Coast Repertory is located at 655 Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa, at the Bristol Street/Avenue of the Arts exit off the San Diego (405) Freeway in the David Emmes/Martin Benson Theatre Center, part of the Segerstrom Center for the Arts. Parking is available on Park Center Drive, off Anton Boulevard.
2025-26 Upcoming Productions: God of Carnage, Jan. 23-March 21, 2026; Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Jan. 24-March 21, 2026; Eat Me, April 12-May 3, 2026; Fremont Ave., April 25-May 23, 2026; Hershey Felder, The Piano & Me, June 9-21, 2026. The annual showcase of new works, the Pacific Playwrights Festival, runs May 1-3, 2026.
Photo:South Coast Repertory