Playwright Theresa Rebeck has cooked up a delicious play. Seared is a main course of drama, with a side dish of comedy. Even though you will not be dining at the theatre venue of Austin Playhouse near the UT campus, you will likely leave here feeling quite full.
With a sterling cast of just four, this culinary play from 2016 dishes the dirt on a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to succeed in the restaurant business. It’s not a pretty sight!
Ben Wolfe (the money man) and Devin Finn (the chef) spend much of the playing yelling at each other. Quite often, they yell simultaneously, making the noise twice as loud. It must be difficult for the actors to strain their vocal chords in this way. Aside from that, some in the audience may be bothered by the yelling, if they were in a relationship like that. The play should have a disclaimer for those uncomfortable with very loud noise or anger.
It is a delight to see Ben Wolfe in this play. As one of Austin’s finest actors, he knows how to project a range of emotions while keeping the plot moving at the pace it was meant to be. He plays Mike, while his cohort is named Harry. Finn brings major credentials to his extraordinary portrayal of the mentally-conflicted Harry. He holds a BFA in acting from Texas State University and has trained with the Royal Shakespeare Company. Wolfe is also no stranger to Shakespeare!
In Shakespeare’s works, characters don’t typically fear success itself; instead, they are paralyzed by the fear of the consequences of achieving greatness. Notable in this regard is Macbeth, who admits his “vaulting ambition”, but is deeply terrified of the guilt and paranoia that come with success. And in Twelfth Night, the pompous steward is tricked into believing his mistress, Olivia, is in love with him. While he eagerly reaches for this social leap, he is fundamentally terrified of what the new status demands. Finn channels these Shakespearean characters into the humble role of a chef who can’t cook a fantastic scallop dinner anymore because he is afraid of becoming a famous chef.
When you consider the playwright has a PhD in Victorian era melodrama, it is a heady mix. Rebeck, originally from Cincinnati, was inspired to write Seared by her favorite neighborhood restaurant in Brooklyn’s Park Slope. That real-life, innovative eatery ultimately had to close its doors because it struggled to make a profit. This is the story of how it might have been otherwise.
One aspect of the play sets it apart from most others. We see Harry alone on stage, experimenting with the creation of new culinary dishes in an attempt to achieve perfection. This unusually high non-verbal time must have been choreographed to perfection. The second act opens with another such scene, but some in the audience found the background music here to be distracting. In any case, just watching Finn deliver a soupçon of spices or seasoning to a dish seared to perfection made one quite hungry.
Forbearance is also the mark of a tasty review. I have exercised that up till now, with regard to the word ‘seared,’ which is the play’s title. While it is used in the play to describe seared salmon, it has deep meaning here.
Seared means to burn or scorch the surface of something with sudden, intense heat. In the play, this literal definition is reflected in Harry’s persona. Subliminally, the word represents the emotional burnout, pain, and scar tissue his obsessive perfectionism leaves behind for himself and the other three characters.
Metaphorically, the play uses the concept of a person’s conscience being seared to comment on modern capitalism and the restaurant industry—where the drive for financial success (a key refrain of Mike) can “sear” away a person’s artistic integrity or ability to care for the human beings around them. Near the play’s end, all three of the other characters literally beg Harry to say he is sorry as a way of showing he can care for the people around him. But one wonders why Mike does not also offer an apology.
The play, while riveting, does have a fault or two, aside from the one just mentioned. When the consultant Emily, played with just the right maddening degree of insouciance by Sarah Zeringue, persuades a famous restaurant critic to review the restaurant, she shares it only with Mike. Who then blabs it to Rodney, the long-suffering waiter played with hidden ambition by Addrian Shontal. Why tell any of the three? Rationally, there is no reason, so one must chalk it up to the needs of action. And a certain love aspect in the play was predictable, and ultimately a wrinkle that really added nothing.
As I was leaving, one member of the audience said to me “I didn’t think it was going to surprise me, but it did!” I recommend you go and be surprised. Regard the ticket price as a tip: it’s worth every penny.
Seared is on stage thru June 28, 2026.
Location: 405 W. 22nd, Austin
Tickets at: www.austinplayhouse.com
Photo (l to r): Zeringue, Wolfe, Finn and Shontal