Brunch is out, over and done with, ran a heading in one of the morning papers. But there was little time to find out why the institution had fallen into disrepute, as we were running late for a matinee performance of Ayad Akhtar's Disgraced.  the 2013 Pulitzer Prize-winning play making its Broadway debut at the Lyceum Theater on West 45th Street. By the way, should you find yourself swamped with holiday parties this month, the play runs until Sunday, January 18. 2015. At any rate, that day, we decided to skip brunch, to skip lunch, and to opt for an early dinner. What we didn’t suspect was that the play, which takes place at a dinner party on the Upper East Side, would pack a wallop in a mere ninety minutes. No intermissions. Laced with sex, ambition and ethnicity, it grips you early and never lets you go. Intellectually engaging, it's a study of the unconscious prejudices of liberal New Yorkers. Enough to make you swear off dinner parties.

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