Lynn Nottage’s contemporary play "Clyde’s" makes its Southwest Florida premiere at The Laboratory Theater of Florida now through August 11.
While the play shines a light on the obstacles inmates experience as they re-enter society following their release from prison, "Clyde’s" also asks one of the most important questions of our times:
Letitia: “Do you think the perfect sandwich can be made?"
Montrellous: “Perhaps. Or will it just awaken a new longing?"
"Clyde’s" Director Tijuanna Clemons elaborates.
“So 'Clyde’s' takes place in a sandwich shop that’s within a truck stop, and consistently they’re making all these different types of sandwiches, all trying to make the perfect sandwich," Clemons said. "But what is the perfect sandwich? Does it exist?”
People have been trying to craft the perfect sandwich for millennia. A rabbi named Hillel made sandwiches in Babylon during the first century B.C. using Paschal lamb and bitter herbs on unleavened matzoh bread.
In Western culture, the sandwich traces its lineage to the 1700s and English politician John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich. Legend has it that during a lucky streak, the Earl requested meat tucked between two pieces of bread that he could eat without interrupting his card game.
"Clyde’s" enigmatic, zen-like chef describes just why the sandwich became, and is, so popular, in this scene:
“You know why I love the sandwich? ‘Cause it’s the complete meal you can hold between your fingers. It’s the most democratic of all foods. Two pieces of bread and in between you can put anything you want. It invites invention, collaboration.”
Director Tijuanna Clemons certainly believes the perfect sandwich exits.
“My perfect sandwich is salami, ham, gouda cheese, lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, onions, jalapeños," Clemons said. "Loaded is my perfect sandwich.”
At Wicked Good Deli in Fort Myers, Chef Domenico rejects the idea of the perfect sandwich. Still, he has one that comes pretty darn close.
“It is the steak bomb — the famous steak bomb that everybody in Fort Myers knows,” Domenico said.
It combines steak with cheese, mushrooms, onions, green peppers and salami on a sub roll. It’s the salami that puts this sandwich over the top.
“It makes everything, you know, perfect," Domenico said. "It gives that extra, ah, taste, and also aroma to the sandwich. That is what’s the secret ingredient, that is now not anymore secret.”
For "Clyde's" chef Montrellous, the perfect sandwich transcends texture, flavor and aroma.
“I think about the balance of the ingredients and the journey I want to take with each bite, and then, finally, I want to achieve oneness with the sandwich.”
"Clyde’s" will transport you, too, on a culinary journey that’s reminiscent of those guided by Jeff Mauro and Guy Fieri. So come hungry. Tantalize your taste buds. And afterwards, embark on your very own quest to find the perfect sandwich.
To read more stories about the arts in Southwest Florida visit Tom Hall's website: SWFL Art in the News.
Spotlight on the Arts for WGCU is funded in part by Naomi Bloom, Jay & Toshiko Tompkins, and Julie & Phil Wade.
Script and audio engineered and produced by WGCU's Tara Calligan.
MORE INFORMATION:
- Go here for a review of the play’s other themes
- Please go here for play dates, times and a full cast list.
- Playwright Lynn Nottage was the first and remains the only woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama twice.
- While Earl John Montagu may not have invented the sandwich, he did popularize it. During his lifetime, the sandwich became a fashionable staple among British aristocracy as well as among the working masses.
- Popular actor, director and Buck’s Backyard voiceover artist Sonya McCarter plays Clyde’s mean-spirited proprietor. Her perfect sandwich is the Cuban sandwich. “Yeah, I love the ham, the pork, the mayo and the mustard smushed together and grrrrilllled.”
- The Cuban makes its appearance early in the play, but in the truck stop sandwich shop, it is garnished with sour pickles, jalapeno aioli and sweet onions.
- Lemec Bernard plays Clyde’s guru, Montrellous. Over the course of the long and arduous rehearsal process, Bernard has given considerable thought to the possibility of the perfect sandwich. He’s concluded that perfection has a regional aspect. “In some places, they really like spicy foods; in other places, they may not like as much seasoning. Once you find that region that you’re in and the type of palette that those folks have, then you can create the perfect sandwich [for them].”
- That said, Lemec’s perfect sandwich is the unassuming PB&J sammy.
- The first known recipe for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich appeared in 1901 in The Boston Cooking School Magazine of Culinary Science & Domestic Economics. During the 1920s, companies began to mass-manufacture peanut butter in the United States and targeted children as potential new consumers. This helped make the PB&J a common school lunch. It remains popular to this day.
- Waner del Rosario plays Rafael in Clyde’s. His character infuses the show with a Latin flavor. But in the play, he offers up a barbequed pork Vietnamese sandwich “with cilantro, diced sweet potatoes, a sprinkle of lime and, wait for it, horseradish.”
- In real life, Waner goes in a much different direction. “My perfect sandwich is probably something that has a good sauce with melted cheese. What’s inside of it might change from day to day.”
- Loyse Michel plays Letitia in Clyde’s. In an early scene, Tish exclaims that her mouth just had a double orgasm after listening to Montrellous describe his unique variation of the Louisiana po’ boy, “Maine lobster, potato roll gently toasted in butter, with roasted garlic, paprika and cracked pepper, mayo, carmelized fennel and a sprinkle of dill.”
- But for her, the perfect sandwich is “tuna on white with mayo and mustard, lettuce, tomatoes and onions,” although in the play, her character would add “red onions, tomatoes (Heirloom), romaine lettuce, chopped lemongrass and basil with a touch of cinnamon and nutmeg.”
- In Clyde’s Justin Larsche plays the kitchen’s newest denizen, Jason, who just wants a Philly cheesesteak on wheat, to which Tish tsk-tsks, chiding, “Seriously? We’re all bringing our A-game and you’re talking about a Philly cheesesteak on wheat?”
- Nevertheless, for Larsche, life imitates art. “Just like my character, it’s a Philly cheesesteak. It can be American white cheese or Cheez Whiz, but it definitely cannot be Swiss.”
- While they each have their own ideas of perfection, the entire cast agrees with the sentiment expressed by Montrellous in the play that “the first bite should be an invitation you can’t refuse” and which, if you get it right, “will transport you to another place, a location, a design of memory.”
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