No Refund Theatre (NRT) continued its fall showings with “Dilemmas with Dinner,” a play by Robin Roberts. Focusing on one dinner and all that can go wrong leading up to it, this play is hilarious but comes from a very real place.

The show features junior executive Brooke, who invites her boss and his wife over for dinner to try and earn a promotion. While preparing to host, Brooke and her husband discover that their hired help is the boss’ ex-daughter-in-law. From there, chaos ensues.

“It’s a comedy because of the real-life situation. It’s chaotic, unsettlingly real, and that’s what makes it funny: an extreme situation that really isn’t that extreme,” said Rayann Patterson, who stars as Brooke.

The play has a cast of around eight people, all of whom bring their painful problems to the dinner, piling onto an already tense atmosphere. As the story progresses, the viewer begins to be afraid of what else will happen and, of course, how it’ll all be resolved.

The dialogue was a challenge for the actors to learn since a lot of it overlaps and involves some impeccable timing, which the actors performed incredibly well.

“[It] was extremely hard at first, but with the cast we have, the crew and the directors make it so easy to work with everyone,” Patterson said about learning the dialogue.

The play was directed by Julia Kozelnicky and Hannah Flade.

“The whole process was a lot of fun, our cast is great, they were very committed,” Flade said.

NRT’s “Dilemmas with Dinner” will run in 111 Forum Building from November 21 to 23. The show starts at 9 p.m. on Thursday, November 21, 9 p.m. on Friday, November 22, and 8 p.m. on Saturday, November 23. As always, admission is free, with no refunds.

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