Your theater is served. Steven B. Young is one of several Equity actors who perform at Joe's Garage every Monday night. The shows are being staged by Thirst Theater, which wants to make theater more immediate and accessible for audiences.

How about a little theater with your beer, burger and fries? That's what diners at Joe's Garage in Minneapolis are treated to every Monday night, courtesy of Thirst Theater.

Minneapolis, Minn. Ñ You've just ordered a cheeseburger medium well at Joe's Garage and you're sipping your diet coke and leaning back in your chair when all of sudden, some theater breaks out at the table next to you.

"Listen I only have a few minutes because I've got an important one o'clock this afternoon...."

This particular playlet is about the character Philip and his meeting at the bar with an insurance agent. Initially, Philip only wants collision insurance for his car. But the agent, by tapping into Philip's bottomless reservoir of fear and neuroses, sells him a policy for every one of his troubles, including Philip's problems relating to other people.

"You know all those people with their cultures.....How am I supposed to keep up with that?" Philip complains.

"I don't have a culture. I'm a white guy. Where's my culture? Pottery Barn? I wish I never had to be reminded that my people oppressed all the other people, until we got too guilty to continue doing it......openly."

Two actors. Ten or so minutes of script, then it's over. But audience members, even as they clean their plates, are completely into it. Laura Bauman is out for a meal with her parents and fiance.

"It's like being in your living room and having these people come in and BOOM, they're alive!" she says.

Thirst Theater was started by two Twin Cities actors, Chris Carlson and Tracy Maloney, and local playwright, Alan Berks. Carlson says their goals were simple. To create and perform edgier work and bring local actors, playwrights and audiences closer together.

"We're trying to touch people who might go to a movie, but not necessarily spend the kind of money to go to a play," he says.

Carlson says they also wanted to capture the human drama that plays out nightly in a bar.

"When we would meet together in a bar, we would just hear the conversations around us and then we started reading scenes, and we fit right in," he says.

Every performance includes about five short plays, each usually about ten minutes long. All the plays are set in a bar. Thirst Theater doesn't use directors. The playwrights and the actors work out how the scenes are portrayed. They can only rehearse twice and for no more than two hours each time. Thirst Theater co-founder Tracy Maloney says for the actor, it's exhilarating to the point of being terrifying.

"It's so scary," Maloney says. "You have no idea what to expect. The material's not tested. You've had just a few hours to work on it. And so to get people up there just kind of going, is really exciting."

Playwrights such as Rosanna Staffa appreciate the streamlined approach. Staffa says normally, a play goes through a workshop and revision process that often takes a couple years, which she thinks can drain the life from it.

"I am craving more and more something so immediate, where the script is there and is experienced fresh and hot," she says. "And I love that, that returning to the brave people we used to be."

As an actor launches into another vignette, Thirst Theater co-founder and writer Alan Berks says the worth of their plays are determined by the audience.

"There's a thing about it in terms of, we don't judge the scripts, we just do them and audience gets to decide, and I think we all wish there was a way that could happen more often," Berks says.

The founders of Thirst Theater believe they've created a more viable economic model for theater. Just actors, writers, and Joe's Garage patrons paying a $10 cover at the door. The performances have become so popular, they've had to turn people away.Your theater is served. Steven B. Young is one of several Equity actors who perform at Joe's Garage every Monday night. The shows are being staged by Thirst Theater, which wants to make theater more immediate and accessible for audiences.

How about a little theater with your beer, burger and fries? That's what diners at Joe's Garage in Minneapolis are treated to every Monday night, courtesy of Thirst Theater.

Minneapolis, Minn. Ñ You've just ordered a cheeseburger medium well at Joe's Garage and you're sipping your diet coke and leaning back in your chair when all of sudden, some theater breaks out at the table next to you.

"Listen I only have a few minutes because I've got an important one o'clock this afternoon...."

This particular playlet is about the character Philip and his meeting at the bar with an insurance agent. Initially, Philip only wants collision insurance for his car. But the agent, by tapping into Philip's bottomless reservoir of fear and neuroses, sells him a policy for every one of his troubles, including Philip's problems relating to other people.

"You know all those people with their cultures.....How am I supposed to keep up with that?" Philip complains.

"I don't have a culture. I'm a white guy. Where's my culture? Pottery Barn? I wish I never had to be reminded that my people oppressed all the other people, until we got too guilty to continue doing it......openly."

Two actors. Ten or so minutes of script, then it's over. But audience members, even as they clean their plates, are completely into it. Laura Bauman is out for a meal with her parents and fiance.

"It's like being in your living room and having these people come in and BOOM, they're alive!" she says.

Thirst Theater was started by two Twin Cities actors, Chris Carlson and Tracy Maloney, and local playwright, Alan Berks. Carlson says their goals were simple. To create and perform edgier work and bring local actors, playwrights and audiences closer together.

"We're trying to touch people who might go to a movie, but not necessarily spend the kind of money to go to a play," he says.

Carlson says they also wanted to capture the human drama that plays out nightly in a bar.

"When we would meet together in a bar, we would just hear the conversations around us and then we started reading scenes, and we fit right in," he says.

Every performance includes about five short plays, each usually about ten minutes long. All the plays are set in a bar. Thirst Theater doesn't use directors. The playwrights and the actors work out how the scenes are portrayed. They can only rehearse twice and for no more than two hours each time. Thirst Theater co-founder Tracy Maloney says for the actor, it's exhilarating to the point of being terrifying.

"It's so scary," Maloney says. "You have no idea what to expect. The material's not tested. You've had just a few hours to work on it. And so to get people up there just kind of going, is really exciting."

Playwrights such as Rosanna Staffa appreciate the streamlined approach. Staffa says normally, a play goes through a workshop and revision process that often takes a couple years, which she thinks can drain the life from it.

"I am craving more and more something so immediate, where the script is there and is experienced fresh and hot," she says. "And I love that, that returning to the brave people we used to be."

As an actor launches into another vignette, Thirst Theater co-founder and writer Alan Berks says the worth of their plays are determined by the audience.

"There's a thing about it in terms of, we don't judge the scripts, we just do them and audience gets to decide, and I think we all wish there was a way that could happen more often," Berks says.

The founders of Thirst Theater believe they've created a more viable economic model for theater. Just actors, writers, and Joe's Garage patrons paying a $10 cover at the door. The performances have become so popular, they've had to turn people away.