Luke Sorge’s new comedy opens this weekend at Miners Alley Performing Arts Center.

Many of us have worked crap jobs in food service or retail at one point without incident. In Taco Town, Denver playwright Luke Sorge imagines a scenario where worker solidarity at a fast-food restaurant leads police to believe there’s a hostage situation.

The new comedy, directed by Len Matheo, is making its world premiere at Miners Alley Performing Arts Center in Golden. It’s Sorge’s second MAPAC premiere in as many years, with National Bohemians opening at Miners Alley in March 2025.

The action follows the workers of fast-food restaurant Taco Town as they organize a sit-in that quickly gets out of hand. Sorge told OnStage Colorado it’s “as if the movie Dog Day Afternoon was a workplace sitcom at a Taco Bell.”

“You could just see Al Pacino in a workplace sitcom,” Matheo said with a laugh. “‘Attica! Attica!’”

“Only like, ‘Quesadilla! Quesadilla!’” Sorge shot back.

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In a Zoom meeting, Matheo panned his camera to show the set for Taco Town — a fast-food joint with lime-green tables and chairs and an ordering counter. The cast and crew were in the throes of tech week, ironing out the final details before opening.

Work in progress

Sorge said he began working on Taco Town 10 years ago. Along with playwriting, he works at the Anythink Library in Thornton.

“I remember having the thought when it was time to open the library, just as like a passing fancy, ‘What would happen if we didn’t open and just refused to unlock the doors?’” he said.

With that in mind, he built a satirical world set in a fast-food restaurant. Once he wrote the initial version of the play, he shared it with his writer’s group at Boulder Ensemble Theatre Company. Sorge took the other writers’ feedback and did a staged reading.

He later workshopped the show and held another staged reading at Thunder River Theatre Company in Carbondale. Last year, Red Rocks Community College staged a full production of Taco Town.

“By the time I sent it to Miners, a lot of hands had touched it, and a lot of the kinks that you are able to work out through development had been worked out,” Sorge said.

He explained that the production involves a steady escalation of chaos. It begins with the Taco Town workers simply refusing to open, their boss getting mad and the standoff intensifying until he reports it to the police as a hostage situation.

“So then a lot of the framing becomes, ‘How do we now get out of this while maintaining our dignity and what we’re standing for?  How do we not end up going to prison, but also not end up giving up?’” Sorge said.

Matheo, the Miners Alley artistic director, said he admires that Sorge creates Neil Simon-like plays with pithy one-liners, lots of setups with hilarious payoffs and relatable character dynamics.

“Underneath it’s a serious situation about workers,” he said. “The workers who are unseen, the people who prepare your fast food, the people who work in kitchens, the people who are on the edge in the economy. They’re making enough to get by and pay their rent, but they’re barely making enough to afford a cellphone, so you’re getting this other message through this comedic lens.”

Ensemble cast

The play features six characters — five of whom almost never leave the stage, said Sorge. The ensemble cast features Maya Ferarrio as Kym, Amy Arpan as Trudy, Paola Miranda as Tessa, Jysten Atom as Roddy, Ethan Hoover as Isaac and Brett Mack as Dustin.

“If there’s a protagonist that we’re following, it’s the manager of the Taco Town,” Sorge said. “Her name is Kym, and she’s in the place where I think a lot of us are, which is that somehow circumstances have figured out exactly how much money we need to not starve to death, and then we are given exactly that much money.”

Kym receives life-changing news, and her coworkers come to her aid to stage the sit-in. The play explores the strange relationships people develop with their coworkers.

“The people we work with aren’t necessarily our friends, and yet it’s a very close and important relationship,” Sorge said. “You get to know each other on this oddly impersonal level considering how much time you spend together. They certainly wouldn’t choose to spend 25 to 40 hours a week together, but there’s an affection that has built up.”

Sorge said this production at Miners Alley is a chance to pass the torch after a decade developing the script.

“It’s not mine anymore, and that’s a really exciting thing that we all now get to share it.”