Forty-five lunch hour theatre-goers crowded the main salon of the Grand Forks Art Gallery Thursday to watch “Dinner for One,” the inaugural production of Brown Bag Theatre, an off-shoot company of Rivers’ Edge Theatre. The 20-minute comedy was just the right fare for a lunch hour performance, providing a brief look into the peculiar manner in which 95-year-old Miss Sophie likes to celebrate her birthday. Her four favorite gentlemen friends may be dead, but Miss Sophie can always count on her butler, James, to treat her in the manner she has come to expect.

Eleanore Martens provided the demeanor and decorum one might expect from a dowager like Miss sophie, and Gary Smith as the butler treated the audience to a gradual and hilarious transformation as his mistress required him to imbibe in a long series of alcoholic toasts.

The audience was larger than the organizers, Jane Bradley and Lori Lum, had hoped, and all 45 of them seemed to be delighted in the performance.

The purpose of the Brown Bag Theatre, Bradley and Lum say, in addition to entertaining audiences once a month, is to try to involve a wider range of local residents in theatre productions. The short play format is an ideal method of encouraging those with an interest who may not have the time or inclination to take part in a large-scale production. The group hopes to mount a different play each month in the art gallery. Information about future plays can be found at www.riversedgetheatre.com. Information about taking part as an actor, director, playwright or behind the scenes is available from Jane Bradley at 250-442-2713 or Lori Lum at 250-447-9595.