Actors Angela Sauer, Andrew Elvis Miller and Gary Patent starring in Ensemble Theater Company's production of 'Seared,' perform in a fully operational onstage kitchen at The New Vic.
The set of Ensemble Theater Company's 'Seared' comes complete with a fully operational kitchen at The New Vic. Onstage in this scene are actors Angela Sauer, Andrew Elvis Miller and Gary Patent. Credit: Judith Smith-Meyer

A unique theatrical repast, “Seared” will close Ensemble Theatre Company’s (ETC) 2022-23 season on Sunday, June 25.

Sadly, the play is also the final production of artistic director Jonathan Fox’s 17-year tenure.

Since Fox took the lead role, ETC outgrew its scrappy first home, the 100-seat Alhecama Theatre on Santa Barbara Street, and inhabited the yummy New Vic, a reincarnation of the languishing Victoria Street Theatre that was funded, remodeled, and fabulously outfitted during his leadership.

The New Vic has showcased a bevy of mostly Equity actors bringing the best of their craft to the Santa Barbara stage in an array of productions from light-hearted Jane Austen romantic comedies to cutting-edge plays that take on most complex geo-political issues of our times, converting the stage from an English manor to a middle eastern prison cell to post-nuclear rural U.S.

Written by Theresa Rebeck, the most produced female playwriting on Broadway, seemingly in the spirit of “It’s better to burn out than to fade away,” “Seared” makes a fiery impression on many fronts.

Fox writes: “Set in the chaotic intensity of the kitchen of a suddenly popular [New York] restaurant, the play is not only a valentine to the culinary world. The heat of the kitchen is an apt metaphor for the crucible of every creative operation where passion must coexist with financial considerations.”

The production centerpiece is the set: a fully functional stainless-steel kitchen, complete with industrial stove, oven, sink, refrigerator, a swing-door to the restaurant, a blue plastic-lined trash can and an oversized tub of Knudsen sour cream.

With a cast of four — and crew members who are visibly present in the cleverly realistic restaurant scene changes — “Seared” features Harry, an artistic genius chef (played by Andrew Elvis Miller), who is often at odds with his devoted and profit-minded business partner Mike (Gary Patent) and Emily (Angela Sauer), a fiercely driven consultant Mike hired to build up the business.

Rounding out the cast and holding it all together, both the plot and the production as a whole, is the level-headed and witty server named Rodney (Ronald Auguste).

To truly love this production, you need to appreciate a sterotypical East Coast argument. A lot of the story is arguing. Mike and Harry arguing about the practical details and the philosophical underpinnings of how they’ll operate the restaurant; Harry and Emily arguing about whether success is important or not; Harry arguing with everyone about everything.

Thankfully, the contention is punctuated by Rodney’s brightly worded, observant, common-sense insight on topics from $5.50 doughnuts to implicit racism to balancing the creative with the pragmatic in business. And he literally saves the day.

And overall, Rebeck provides enough humorous dialogue and idiosyncratic quirks to cut the heat with a little lightness.

Thursday Talkback following the performance on Thursday, June 22 offers the audience a chance to enjoy an informal 20- to 30-minute Q&A with the artists.

Purchase tickets online, by calling 805-965-5400, or by visiting the box office, 1-5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday at 33 W. Victoria St.

ETC’s 45th anniversary season opens Oct. 5 with “The Thanksgiving Play” and includes an homage to Johhny Cash, a drama set in Nazi Germany, a production of the 2022 Tony Best Play award winner, and a world premiere a cappella musical about the inspiration for “Alice in Wonderland” and her real life romance with a British prince.

Season tickets are available now.

Art critic Judith Smith-Meyer is a round-the-clock appreciator of the creative act.