THE DINING ROOM
The Dining Room takes us on a powerful journey through 70 years of family memories into what was the center of the family‘s heart and home, The Dining Room.
This tender, powerful, humorous mosaic follows cultural changes through the erosion of a vanishing species, the upper middle class. A tug-of-war is brought into the spotlight between two worlds – that of tradition versus the name of progress. Tradition’s unflinching, stodgy stability is questioned as opposed to the comfort, togetherness, and security it brings. It smashes in direct conflict versus the progress of social equality, rebelling wives and teenagers, separate meals – and the dining room table turning into a rueful, empty echo of what it once was.
The scenes merge fluidly as different eras overlay and coalesce giving the audience and actors alike an impressive theatrical experience of outstanding range, tender humor, and emotional depth as we yearn for the closeness of the past while we savor the progress we have attained. The play is set in a single dining room where 18 scenes from different households fluidly overlap and intertwine.
Gallery of Images from the show
Notes from the Playwright/Director
ACT I
- Scene 1: 2015 A real estate agent and her client explore the dining room.
- Scene 2: 2008 Sisters argue over who will inherit the dining room furniture.
- Scene 3: 1929 Children are permitted to join their father for breakfast.
- Scene 4: 1945 A niece claims the dining room as her work space.
- Scene 5: 1961 A mother and daughter clash over choices.
- Scene 6: 1935 A young boy tries to prevent his family’s maid from leaving.
- Scene 7: 1973 An architect has grand plans for her client’s new home.
- Scene 8: 1963 A child’s birthday party contrasts with adult temptation.
- Scene 9: 1958 A young girl asks her grandmother to pay for boarding school.
- Scene 10: 1966 A strong woman hires a handyman to fix her dining room table.
- Scene 11: 1990 Family’s helps their struggling, aging mother dinner.
ACT II
- Scene 1: 1983 Teenagers sneak into a parents’ liquor cabinet.
- Scene 2: 1978 A daughter begs her father to come home.
- Scene 3: 1960 A college student researches WASPs’ etiquette.
- Scene 4: 1971 Alcoholism ruins an afternoon in the dining room.
- Scene 5: 1939 A father is determined to defend his brother’s honor.
- Scene 6: 1955 An elderly man and his grand daughter plan his funeral.
- Scene 7: 1979 A hostess dreams of the perfect dinner party.