BRAVE NEW WORKSHOP THEATRE founded by Dudley Riggs in 1958
824 Hennepin Avenue, Minneapolis, MN 55403

For more information contact: Jenni Lilledahl, jenni@bravenewworkshop.com cell: 612-578-9566;

John Sweeney, sweeney@bravenewworkshop.com

Innovative "Happy Hour Squared" Has

Fed More Than 17,500 People So Far

BNW and FINNEGANS Team Up to Reinvent Happy Hour that Feeds the Hungry

"Happy Hour Squared" is the third Thursday of every month

The Brave New Workshop Theatre (BNW) has partnered with FINNEGANS, Inc (charitable beer company) to reinvent happy hour, with the goals of feeding the hungry and serving the community. The innovative monthly event, held at the BNW's ETC event centre in downtown Minneapolis, is dubbed "Happy Hour Squared." The BNW has hosted seven "Happy Hour Squared" events since May (one per month), resulting in more than 17,500 sandwiches distributed to the hungry by Mr. Law's MRD 363 Days Food Program. The renowned FINNEGANS Reverse Food Truck (RFT) is also part of the event, accepting cash and non-perishable food donations. Since launching "Happy Hour Squared" (HH2) in May, more than 350 people have volunteered their hands and hearts and their efforts will soon be included in a piece airing on NBC Nightly News highlighting the work of Mr. Law.

The next HH2 is Thursday, December 18, 2014 from 5pm - 7pm and is free and open to the public. The event is held the third Thursday of every month (see listing schedule below). Attendees can show up anytime between 5pm - 7pm, enjoy a FINNEGANS beer, share a laugh, make some sandwiches, donate to the FINNEGANS RFT and feel good for having made a difference. The sandwiches made at HH2 are handed off to Mr. Law immediately at the event and go to feed the hungry on the streets that night. Anyone donating to the RFT gets a two-for-one voucher for a FINNEGANS beer at the event.

EVENT / CALENDAR LISTING SUMMARY:

WHAT: Happy Hour Squared is a free monthly event hosted by The Brave New Workshop and FINNEGANS -- a happy hour with heart (have a beer, share a laugh, make sandwiches to feed the hungry, and feel good about helping the community)

WHEN: 5pm - 7pm - Third Thursday of each month. Upcoming dates are:

Thursday, December 18, 2014

Thursday, January 15, 2015

Thursday, February 19, 2015

Thursday, March 19, 2015

Thursday, April 16, 2015

Thursday, May 21, 2015

Thursday, June 18, 2015

Thursday, July 16, 2015

HOW: Happy Hour Squared is free and open to the public. Visit our new HH2 website. For more information call the BNW at (612) 332-6620. The event is free and open to the public, and RSVPs on the Facebook event page are preferred to help with the event planning.

WHERE:

Brave New Workshop

ETC Event Centre

824 Hennepin Ave

Downtown Minneapolis

WHY: Hunger in the Twin Cities is a constant, but often invisible, problem. FINNEGANS has been addressing the issue for years through its partnership with the Emergency Food Shelf Network and its own FINNEGANS Community Fund. Happy Hour Squared is the Brave New Workshop's innovative way of reinventing happy hour and making it easy for its employees, its guests and the community at large to engage in and support an important cause.

CONTACT: Brave New Workshop (612) 332-6620

LINKS / MORE INFO:

Website http://www.happyhoursquared.com/

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/HappyHourSquared

Dec 18 Facebook Event Page https://www.facebook.com/events/827554137266475/

Video http://tinyurl.com/HappyHourSquared

Finnegans Website http://finnegans.org/reverse-food-truck/

Mr. Law Website http://www.363days.org/sandwich_faq.html

More Background About "Happy Hour Squared"

BNW co-owner, John Sweeney, was inspired to create the event after learning about the FINNEGANS Reverse Food Truck and after seeing the inspirational documentary, The Starfish Throwers, by Jesse Roesler. After meeting Minneapolis' Allan Law, who is featured in the film and has been serving the poor and feeding the hungry on the Twin Cities' streets since 1967, Sweeney came up with the 'reinvented happy hour' idea. Mr. Law hands out more than 650,000 sandwiches each year, every night, on the streets of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Many of those he helps are not far from the doors of the BNW's downtown theatre.

Sweeney presented the idea to friend and FINNEGANS, Inc. CEO and founder, Jacquie Berglund, and to Mr. Law, and they both loved the concept. "I never cease to be amazed by the creativity of the folks at the BNW," said Berglund. "We are thrilled to be a part of Happy Hour Squared. It is totally mission aligned and it provides our FINNEGANS team of volunteers a hands on way to help alleviate hunger in our community."

"Everyone likes to go to happy hour after work and talk about their day. What if in addition to doing that they went to happy hour and did something good for their community? Happy Hour Squared is just that simple," said Sweeney. BNW donates staff time to run the event, and donates the use of the ETC space. FINNEGANS provides donated staff and volunteer support as well, including the appearance of its Reverse Food Truck during good-weather months. A portion of the cost to make the sandwiches is covered by the evening's bar sales, as well as voluntary donations collected at the event. The BNW covers the difference as part of its Brave New Citizenship community involvement program.

The goal is to test the concept locally at the BNW and then pitch it to a world-wide distributor, like Beam Suntory, to see if the idea can spread world-wide, according to Sweeney. "We'd love to see millions of bars around the globe celebrating happy hour while doing a community service project at the same time," said Sweeney. "It could be making sandwiches like we're doing at HH2, or assembling care packages or simply accepting donations."

About the Brave New Workshop (BNW):

The Brave New Workshop has been writing, performing and producing sketch comedy and improvisation since 1958-- longer than any other theatre in the United States. Founded by former circus performer Dudley Riggs and currently owned by husband and wife John Sweeney and Jenni Lilledahl, the BNW has become a legendary comedy institution, where audiences enjoy improv and sketch comedy nearly every night of the week. The company's talented performers create satirical, irreverent, and intelligent original works. Alums of the Workshop stage include Louie Anderson, Pat Proft, Al Franken, Tom Davis, Mo Collins ("Mad TV"), Peter MacNichol ("Ally McBeal", "24"), Melissa Peterman ("Reba"), Cedric Yarborough ("Reno 911", "The Boondocks") and Rich Sommer ("Mad Men"). The Brave New Workshop's Creative Outreach division trains and entertains Fortune 500 companies like Microsoft, Hilton/Hampton, General Mills, and Target. Additionally, the Brave New Workshop Student Union boasts the most comprehensive improv training curriculum in the country.