Directed by: Carla Nell 

Book by: Robert Schleeter and Corey Fayman (with Judy Forman)

Music by: Robert Schleeter and Ricardo Pitts-Wiley

Stage Manager: Sueann Pauley

Cast: Patrick Mayuyu, Eboni Muse, Eric Casalini, Lydia Lea Real, Justine Hince, Tali Nadav,
          Mitchell Asa, Rachel Throesch, Don Victor, Tanika Baptiste, Laura Preble, Julian Davis

Photography: © 2015 Juxtoposition Photographic Arts

 

San Diego’s Big Kitchen Café has been the center of the “counter culture” universe for more than three decades. Stories and characters abound, all nurtured by former social worker Judy the Beauty on Duty, the latest in a line of women to own the café.

 

This performance featured an hour of the full-length show, with book by Robert Schleeter and Corey Fayman (with Judy Forman!) and music by long-time collaborators Robert Schleeter and Ricardo Pitts-Wiley. BIG KITCHEN – A COUNTER CULTURE MUSICAL is an evolving production about former Detroit social worker Judy Forman - aka Judy the Beauty on Duty – and the inclusive community she has fostered at her eclectic Southern California restaurant. Since 1980 Judy and the BK have been the center of the world for artists, musicians, gays and lesbians, political activists, hungry people and seekers of all kinds.

Every decade or so a work of art comes along that makes you feel glad to be a part of the human race. We feel this show has the potential to be that kind of work.