The family table is stage on which many family dramas are played out. We hear three stories, of three families, at three meals.
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Act One
Breakfast
A story by Jay Allison and Annie Cheney, from Jay's Life Stories series. Annie tells a story of eating and not eating, and a life seen through one meal. (34 minutes)
Act Two
Lunch
Family dynamics seen strictly from the parents' perspective. A story by Ian Frazier, Laws Concerning Food and Drink; Household Principles; Lamentations of the Father. Read by Peter Sagal, the host of NPR's quiz show Wait Wait ... Don't Tell Me! (8 minutes)
Act Three
Dinner
To end this show about parents and children at mealtime, a story about what happens when children have to become the parents. Dave Eggers' mother and father died when he was 21 and his brother Toph was 8. Dave became Toph's primary caretaker. He describes dinnertime in their home. You can read more about Dave's experiences with Toph in A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius: Based on a True Story. (10 minutes)
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