Meal n’ Reel Event Attracts a Crowd

The Donahue Café is transformed Tuesday nights as the Program Council (PC) sections off the majority of the room with a black curtain, and a PC member is at entrance handing a raffle ticket to each person as they walk inside.

There is no charge to enjoy Suffolk’s Meal n’ Reel evenings.

Around the corner students are overwhelmed by delicious foods ranging from mozzarella sticks and chicken fingers to decadent brownie ice cream sundaes. As with any movie theater, there is always soda and popcorn. The best part is: no serving limits!

Finally, moviegoers can take their seats among the rows of chairs or indulge in one of the front row sofas. Whole groups are able to find room, but the theater fills up fast. A projection screen displays Program Council’s executive board and past and future events before the lights go down. At 7 p.m. the slideshow ends and the trailer for the next Meal n’ Reel production is displayed.

All the lights finally go out, leaving the audience in darkness much like that in an actual theater. The audience is polite and keeps the noise level and cell phone light to a minimum.

After an enjoyable two-hour film the raffle tickets make their star appearance.

Program Council raffles off three backpacks to audience members. One is filled with “PC Swag” and holds an array of pens, sunglasses, a teddy bear, dart guns, and anything else Program Council can put their name on. Another is known as the “Movie Date” bag, which including movie theater tickets, candy and popcorn. A final backpack is specific to the current film. At The Avengers screening this bag held special edition DVDs for Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Captain America, and Thor. Following The Amazing Spiderman, PC gave away a beautiful collection of original Spiderman comics.

Meal n’ Reel began at Suffolk in 2009 as a way for PC to reach out to students who may not have known about the student organization. They feature films that were not yet available on DVD, but had left theaters. Several discussions between PC members and viewers later, the program was able to adapt to the tastes of the audience. Now under executive member Jonathan Stone, the evenings are only going to grow.

“My number one goal for this semester is a movie night where we reach max capacity” Stone exclaims. He has been working with other committee members to make Meal n’ Reel fun and exciting, and so far they have delivered.

In the coming weeks Program Council will be screening Ted (Oct. 16), The Dark Knight Rises (Oct. 24), and Tucker and Dale vs. Evil (Nov. 28). This event is growing in its entertainment value, don’t miss out!