New play at San Antonio’s Jump-Start explores the social connections we form with strangers

Chuck Squier, a founding member of San Antonio’s Jump-Start Performance Co., has delivered a new play using character development methods akin to those of great British filmmaker Mike Leigh (Secrets And Lies, Life is Sweet).

Working with friends and collaborators, Squier built the new show Strangers at a Feast in an organic manner through writing exercises, improvisation, discussion and rehearsals, ensuring each cast member had a hand in developing her own character.

The play seeks to explore social connection with others, specifically strangers.

“Initially we see only a stranger’s differences, their ‘otherness.’ However, through interaction and self-revelation, the distance between us decreases,” Squier said of his creation. “Of course, those interactions can be characterized in any number of ways, from friendly to antagonistic, poignant, shocking or absurd.”

The show runs every two weeks through May 18 and admission is on a pay-what-you-can scale.

Free-$25, 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 3 p.m. Sunday, Jump-Start Performance Co., 710 Fredericksburg Road, (210) 227-5867, jump-start.org.

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This article appears in Apr 30 – May 13, 2025.