Reel and Meal Celebrates Its 5th Anniversary With Live Dinner Theater

For its 5th Anniversary Reel and Meal at the New Deal Café is doing a first—it's live ECO-dinner theater on Monday, Sept. 17. A banjo player will play bluegrass at the New Deal as performer Adelind Horan portrays interviews she conducted when volunteering in a coal-related cleanup on the mountains of West Virginia and Kentucky.

Real and Meal patrons will see miners and mining executives, hillbillies, scientests, environmentalists and more come to life in "Cry of the Mountain," a documentary play about mountaintop removal in Appalachia.

"We're delighted that we've been able to bring five years and 60 programs to the Greenbelt Community to help raise awareness about environmental, social justice, and animal rights issues,"  said Reel and Meal founding member Cam MacQueen. "We've worked hard; it's been a true labor of love."

At 6:30 p.m., Real and Meal will offer an optional plant-based, whole foods buffet for $13. It includes a soup, salad, main course and a beverage.

"Cry of the Mountain" starts at 7 p.m. and will be followed by a discussion with Horan and Chris Hill, conservation representative for the Maryland Sierra Club. Hill was recently featured in Essence magazine's "Young, Black, and Amazing!"

The documentary play is free but Reel and Meal states that donations for Horan's travel expenses are appreciated.

"A big thankyou to the Greenbelt Community for supporting us," said MacQueen.