‘One great product away from happiness’: new Lunchbox Theatre comedy digs into online shopping

Katelyn Morishita is one of the stars of Thank You for Your Order, a new comedy by Canadian playwright Jessica Moss that opens March 19 at Lunchbox Theatre.

What if a wish fulfillment centre actually delivered a character whose object of desire was its latest customer?

That’s the dramatic question at the heart of Thank You for Your Order, a comedy from Toronto-based playwright Jessica Moss, having its world premiere next week at Lunchbox Theatre in Calgary.

The absurdist comedy tells the story of Jocelyn, a worker from A Large Corporation that Will Remain Nameless, who shows up one day on the doorstep of Matty and his girlfriend Zara to reveal that they’ve fallen in love with Matty based on his order.

That sets off an emotional spiral into online shopping as more and more stuff arrives, dismaying Zara even as it thrills Matty.

The comedy was developed at Lunchbox as part of its Stage One and Stage Two programs, which are yearly developmental showcases that allow local artists the opportunity to create new work, with an excellent chance of being produced by the company.

Thank You for Your Order was part of the 2024 Stage One program and so well-received that it was slotted in as the closing production of Lunchbox’s 2025-26 season.

“Thank You for Your Order is a balm for a culture that has become increasingly invested in purchasing disposable trinkets on the Internet,” said Lunchbox artistic director Bronwyn Steinberg, in a media release. “I think we’ve all felt like we’re one great product away from happiness, and this play holds a mirror up to how that kind of thinking gets in the way of our connection to each other and ourselves.”

The comedy features an all-Calgarian cast including Annisha Plesche as Zara, David Feehan as Matty and Katelyn Morishita as Jocelyn.

Thank You for Your Order opens for previews March 17 at noon and runs through April 4.

Lunchbox is celebrating its 50th anniversary this season, and offering a legacy price of $19.75 for tickets to the first Sunday performance of the run (Mar. 22), to celebrate its founding in 1975.