Lunch with Sonia is a dance puppet theatre piece, inspired by Restrepo’s true-life experience with his Aunt Sonia, who decided to end her life with dignity after a long illness at the age of 72. The show uses puppets, live actors, music, video and physical theatre to deal with the themes of life, love, and loss.

Conversations about assisted dying bring up controversial and emotionally fraught issues: morality, religion, politics, and faith. With this piece, Loco7 hopes to acknowledge the incredible intimacy and the very personal nature of dying as the final event of living a self-actualized, individual human life and to move the dialogue from the philosophical arena to the realm of personal experience and stories related to the topic of Death with Dignity.

Generously supported in part with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, New York State Council on the Arts, The Jim Henson Foundation and Individual Donors.

Lunch with Sonia was in a process residency at The Eugene O’Neill Arts
Center, September 2021. The Jim Henson Foundation Puppetry Residency
is an annual residency at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, which in
addition to rehearsal space, room and board offers dramaturgical support.

CREDITS

Written & Co-Directed by Federico Restrepo & Denise Greber

Choreography, Light, Set & Puppet Design: Federico Restrepo
Sound Design & Composition: Leonie Bell
Costume Design: Becky Hubbert
Tech Director/Production Manager: Juan Merchan

Performers Featured in the Various USA tours: Melissa Alvarez, Marina Celander, Catherine Correa, Zuli Diaz, Aaron Haskell, Hope Kroog, Monica Lerch, Jorge Ariel Blanco Muñoz, Steven Orrego Upegui, Chris Rehmann, and Federico Restrepo.

Voice of Sonia: Luz Beatriz Pizano

Performers in Kitchen Video: Alberto Quiroga with Esmeralda Pinzon, Carolina Restrepo, Federico Restrepo, & Natalia Schönwald
Camera: Alberto Sierra Restrepo

Final Song Arrangement & Vocals: Chris Ignacio; Guitar: Yuto Kanazawa
Light Design Assistant: Katie Wakeman
Scenic Fabrication of Moving Screen by Mark Tambella
Sound Capture (Colombia): Gabriel Ponce
Costume Design Assistant: Sidney Ritter
Research & Selected Writings: Diana Jaramillo & Catalina Restrepo

PRESENTATIONS

September 15–16 2021
Eugene O’Neill Theater Center (New London, CT)
September 29–October 3, 2021
Ellen Stewart Theatre at La MaMa (New York City, NY)
September 28–October 20, 2022
Casa e Borrero (Bogota, Colombia)
April 12–16, 2023
The Club at La MaMa (New York City, NY)
July 21–23, 2023
Maimi Hispanic International Theatre Festival (Miami, FL)
January 25–27, 2024
Chicago International Puppet Festival (Chicago, IL)
February 23, 2024
El Parque National (Bogota, Colombia)
March 7–8, 2024
Festival International de Casteliers (Montreal,CA)
November 21–24, 2024
Theatre Project (Baltimore,MD)

 PRESS

“…Lunch with Sonia, an achingly beautiful entry in La MaMa’s bi-annual Puppet Festival…made me feel intensely grateful that La MaMa is once again lending its stages to live performance that is strange, daring, gorgeous and far from the mainstream.”
—Laura Collins-Hughes, The New York Times

“Lunch with Sonia, an enthralling, moving, and joyful tribute to a life well lived...”
—June Sawyers, 3CR - third coast review

“Lunch With Sonia, written and directed by Federico Restrepo and Denise Greber of the Loco7 Dance Puppet Theatre Company, was one of the festival’s most successful productions. There was a lyricism to the storytelling, beautifully weaving dance, puppetry, acting, and projection into the narrative.”
—Stefano Bancato, Puppets in Review

“First Up in La MaMa’s Return: Strange, Enchanting Puppetry”
Laura Collins-Hughes, The New York Times

“Loco7 Dance Puppet Theatre Company - Lunch with Sonia”
Stefano Brancato, Puppets in Review

“La MaMa Puppet Festival 2021: Lunch with Sonia”
Jonathan Mandell, New York Theater

“10 New Contemporary Puppet Works to Debut at LA MAMA PUPPET SERIES”
Chloe Rabinowitz, Broadway World

“Two Takes on “Lunch with Sonia” by Loco7
Coty Villegas and Muriel Peterson, Culturebot

“Chicago International Puppet Festival 2024 Archive: Loco7 Dance Puppet Theater”
Dance Center Columbia College Chicago, Archive Page

“The best things we saw at the 6th Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival”
Irene Hsiao, Chicago Reader

“Dispatch: Puppet Theater Festival Closes With Puppetry Comic, Joyful, Grim and Gorgeous”
June Sawyers, 3CR - third coast review

“Arti Sin Pedestal, Temporadas Demasiado Cortas y Otros Repasos de la Escena Teatral de Miami en 2023”
Jose Antonio Evora, Artburst Miami