About The Director
About the Playwright
About the Playwright
Danny Salles is writer/director/producer for theater and television. He co-wrote book and lyrics and served as associate director for the critically acclaimed Off-Broadway comedy Vape! The Grease Parody now running at Theater 555. Last year, he directed the musical The Perfect Game at Theatre Row and he wrote book and lyrics and directed
Danny Salles is writer/director/producer for theater and television. He co-wrote book and lyrics and served as associate director for the critically acclaimed Off-Broadway comedy Vape! The Grease Parody now running at Theater 555. Last year, he directed the musical The Perfect Game at Theatre Row and he wrote book and lyrics and directed the musical comedy satire The First Annual Trump Family Special in LA and Off-Broadway starring Gina Gershon. For TV, he directed the holiday movie, The Christmas Thief for ION TV and for 4 seasons of the hit ABC comedy The Middle. He is also a veteran showrunner and director on comedic TV reality series: Joan Rivers’ Joan and Melissa (WeTV), Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List (Bravo, Emmy nomination) Todrick (MTV), Denise Richards: It’s Complicated and The Joe Schmo Show. He also served as executive consulting producer on Prop Culture (Disney+) and co-directed the Emmy-winning special Recipe for Change: Standing Up to Antisemitism (YouTube Originals).
About the Playwright
About the Playwright
About the Playwright
Russ Pastena is a lifelong writer and communicator, blending the art of expression with an affinity for genuine connection. He is the author of the children's book Taste the Soup and has published a number articles. Armed with degrees in Communication and Theatre, he successfully built a decades-long career in business, treating the corpo
Russ Pastena is a lifelong writer and communicator, blending the art of expression with an affinity for genuine connection. He is the author of the children's book Taste the Soup and has published a number articles. Armed with degrees in Communication and Theatre, he successfully built a decades-long career in business, treating the corporate world as a kind of grand stage where the line between life and art remained thin.
Today, Russ is fully focused on writing, turning his ear for dialogue and everyday nuance into stories about the small dramas that shape ordinary lives. He lives in New Jersey with his family, writing to give resonance to voices often overlooked, underestimated and wonderfully human.
More About Yesterday's Bread
Story
Characters
Characters
Set in 1980s Newark, Yesterday’s Bread follows Lina, a tough-as-nails baker and neighborhood matriarch whose secret life and beautiful turn-of-the-century home suddenly land in the crosshairs of a sinister thug. Over the course of one spring day, Lina, her live-in nephew, and the whirl of characters who invade her kitchen are pulled into
Set in 1980s Newark, Yesterday’s Bread follows Lina, a tough-as-nails baker and neighborhood matriarch whose secret life and beautiful turn-of-the-century home suddenly land in the crosshairs of a sinister thug. Over the course of one spring day, Lina, her live-in nephew, and the whirl of characters who invade her kitchen are pulled into a high-stakes scheme to protect her legacy.
Comic sparks fly with Milly, her lifelong confidante, while a pot of borscht, a bottle of Jean Naté, and the return of Bocce - a charming, old-school mobster with lingering affections - push the day toward chaos.
At its heart, Yesterday’s Bread is a sharp, human comedy about secrets, regrets, and the fierce loyalties that hold a family - and a community - together.
Characters
Characters
Characters
Lina
Sharp-tongued, resourceful, and deeply tied to family tradition. Her home and kitchen are her kingdom, but behind her steely exterior is a woman worn down by time and quietly longing for salvation.
· Val
Raised by his aunt and stumbling through reckless relationships, he is desperate to prove he’s grown. He lives upstairs with a steady
Lina
Sharp-tongued, resourceful, and deeply tied to family tradition. Her home and kitchen are her kingdom, but behind her steely exterior is a woman worn down by time and quietly longing for salvation.
· Val
Raised by his aunt and stumbling through reckless relationships, he is desperate to prove he’s grown. He lives upstairs with a steady new girlfriend, but his old guilt - and what he imagines his aunt thinks - keeps sabotaging him.
· Brooklyn
Val’s girlfriend. An ambitious young chef, she is passionate, driven, and hopeful. She seeks authenticity and connection but finds herself caught in Lina’s unspoken expectations and cryptic world.
· Milly
Lina’s eccentric best friend, with a childlike disposition. She’s sweet, loyal, and often hilariously off-track, yet serves as a strange but grounding force in Lina’s life.
· Rain
A sharp, streetwise prostitute trying to escape the life. She is smarter than she looks and more resilient than most. She sees through pretenses.
· Gora
A local Russian mobster. Menacing, entitled, and predatory.
Bocce
A well-known New York mobster with softer edges than his reputation suggests. He’s an old-school operator - charming, protective, and woven into Lina’s past.
Appeal
Characters
Appeal
Yesterday’s Bread is a sharp, tightly woven character driven story – accessible, darkly funny, and thematically rich. Its single-location setting makes it ideal for production while its bold roles, especially for older women offer strong casting appeal. It promises not only critical depth and fresh theatrical voice, but audience engagem
Yesterday’s Bread is a sharp, tightly woven character driven story – accessible, darkly funny, and thematically rich. Its single-location setting makes it ideal for production while its bold roles, especially for older women offer strong casting appeal. It promises not only critical depth and fresh theatrical voice, but audience engagement and emotional impact - a “bread and butter” vehicle for standout performances and successful runs in regional, off-Broadway, and beyond. By fusing the intimacy of a kitchen drama with the danger of a thriller, Yesterday’s Bread invites audiences into a world where tradition is both a blessing and a burden, and where the past still rises, like dough, into the present.
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