HOLY CHICKEN SANDWICH
by Kira Rockwell
directed by Lisa Adler
A Grand Opening. An All-Night Campout. Total Chaos.
On the eve of a highly anticipated grand opening of a beloved fast-food chain, one hundred fervent devotees gather in the parking lot for an overnight campout to earn a year of free large combos. As the night unfolds, it’s clear there’s a fox in the chicken coop. Jade, the newly appointed store manager, must find the source of anarchy before the flock devolves into utter chaos.
A wildly theatrical, fun, and fast-paced comedy that invites audiences to uncover what’s really in the secret sauce of devotion.
By Atlanta playwright Kira Rockwell, acclaimed writer of Oh, To Be Pure Again (Actor’s Express, 2023).
———
Age Range: A quirky, big-hearted comedy with themes best appreciated by adults and older teens. Leave the little little chicks at home.
Content: Think Wes Anderson-style quirkiness and heightened theatricality, with a big-hearted ensemble comedy like The Good Place or Abbott Elementary underneath.
Performance Dates
AUGUST 21-SEPTEMBER 19, 2026
Press Opening: August 28
Show Times
Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays 8PM
Wednesday, Sept 16 at 2PM
Saturdays 2PM and 8PM
Sundays 5PM
TICKETS: Call 404-584-7450. Box office hours are 12-5 Tuesday through Saturday.
Show Run Time
2 hours plus a 10-minute intermission
General Admission
Tickets start at $40 on Wednesdays & Thursdays, $45 for Friday nights, Saturday nights, and weekend matinees. Reserve now for best prices! Prices will increase as the run continues.
Student tickets available for $15. Contact our box office to place an order.
Bring your neighbors!
Group pricing is available for parties of 10+. Groups of 10-24 receive $3 off the general admission ticket price. Groups of 25+ receive $5 off the general admission ticket price. Call 404.523.1477 x100 or e-mail groups@horizontheatre.com for more information.
Ticket prices are subject to change. Buy early for best pricing. Internet convenience fee added to all online orders. No refunds, exchanges, or late seating. Cannot combine discount offers.
TICKETS: Call 404-584-7450. Box office hours are 12-5 Tuesday through Saturday.
Cast & Creatives
FEATURING
Playwright Kira Rockwell
Directed by Lisa Adler
Scenic Designers: Isabel & Moriah Curley-Clay
Costume Designer: Stephanie Dixon
Lighting Designer: Mary Parker
Props Designer: Annabell Sapp
Sound Designer: John Michael Hoke
Stage Manager: Tara Patterson
Rehearsal/Asst. Stage Manager: Clarissa Mullig
Fight Choreographer: Kristin Storla
Alternate Stage Manager: Lexi McKay
*Member of Actors’ Equity Association
Production Photos
Press & Reviews
- Feature: WABE: Kira Rockwell’s New Comedy Holy Chicken Sandwich looks at faith and fanaticism
- Feature: ArtsATL: 2026 Fall Arts Preview: Ones to Watch — Featuring Holy Chicken Sandwich playwright Kira Rockwell
- Feature: CBS News Atlanta: “Holy Chicken Sandwich” takes absurd look at authenticity and well-known Atlanta chain
A Q&A with the Playwright
What inspired you to write Holy Chicken Sandwich?
KIRA ROCKWELL: Holy Chicken Sandwich takes place during an overnight campout in the parking lot of a fictional fast food chicken restaurant, which is a inspired by a very real event that a beloved yet controversial chicken place used to host before a grand opening of a new location. It’s no longer a thing, but I had many friends in college who would attend these campouts so they could get a year of free large combos. While doing my research, I watched a ton of vlogs of people who did go on YouTube. I found it fascinating that people would willingly campout in a parking lot with strangers and that a little community was formed over a mutual love of chicken. The event itself is highly theatrical. It’s got both a youth group church lock-in vibe and a lively tailgate.
The event alone could have been a play, but on a person level, I also wanted to process all the years I had worked in the service industry. Instead of chicken, I worked in coffee. I started working at Starbucks when I was just fifteen years old. It went on to support me off and on through undergrad, grad school, and even a year post grad. It was a job I could always fall back on, especially as an artist. It also just happens to be where I met my husband, but that’s for my future rom com. Working in the service industry has this way of being terrible and fun at the same time. You work long hours for barely anything but you create a little workplace family that makes it feel worth it. If you’ve ever had to clean a public toilet, then this play is for you.
With every play that I write I try to do something I haven’t done before. I like to stretch myself and explore different avenues of myself and society. With this play, I wanted to right a comedy that didn’t address faith or religion head on because those are things I have already tackled. I often describe my writing as visceral but this one feels, at times, cerebral too.
Many of my stories start internally, with something I can’t forget, or shake off, good or bad, or a curiosity that leads me to the page. I love being able to pull from inside of me using all of my observations, hopes, disappointments, dreams, pains and joys, and write something that connects with others.
What are the themes/ideas you explore?
KR: In a day and age of branding, both business-wise and personally, the play explores the authenticity of that. A play that longs for a place of discourse among people who don’t agree with each other. We’re living in a divided time that pressures us to pick one side over the other, and yet I know a lot of folks who find themselves outside of that binary looking for ways to create a middle ground.
What do you hope audiences will take away from the play?
KR: I genuinely hope audiences leave feeling entertained by something fresh, original, and deeply Atlantan, as well as feeling more conscientious of what they devote themselves too whether that be a certain chicken sandwich, an assigned role in society’s pecking order, or blindly following a corporate ladder. If you’re feeling stuck in life, I hope you feel empowered to make a change.
If you had to describe the play using other cultural references to movies/TV/film, what would you say?
KR: I’d say tonally the play feels like The Good Place with some flights of fancy like the Barbie movie. My husband and I also love watching classic sitcoms like King of Queens, Mad About You, and of course Friends, to name a few. They’re just so delightful. As someone who writes more dramas, I knew I wanted to explore heated socio-political ideas from a slant. Comedy is an amazing vehicle to have important conversations because it’s more digestible. It doesn’t feel as heavy, or pointed as drama can feel sometimes. These times are hard enough, we need the theatre to be a place of refugee and catharsis.