The Dining Room

The dining room of a well-to-do household is where the family assembles for breakfast, dinner and all special occasions. We see a mosaic of interrelated and overlapping scenes that create an in-depth portrait of a vanishing level of society: the upper-middle class. The actors change roles, personalities and ages as they portray a wide variety of characters, from little boys to stern grandfathers and giggling teenage girls to Irish housemaids. Each vignette introduces a new set of people and events; a father lectures his son on grammar and politics; a boy returns from boarding school to discover his mother’s infidelity; a senile grandmother doesn’t recognize her own sons at Christmas dinner; a daughter, her marriage a shamble, pleads futilely to return home. Dovetailing swiftly and smoothly, the varied scenes coalesce, ultimately, into a theatrical experience of exceptional range, compassionate humor and abundant humanity.

Directed by Tom Rieser

Cast:

Jean Austin (Winfield), Xavier Dorsey (Maywood),Mark Fortman (West Chicago), Mark Furlong (Downers Grove), Joshua Medina (Chicago),
Lynn Meredith (Maple Park), Maureen Navadomskis (West Chicago),
Carolyn Pizzato (Palatine), Thomas Tawney (West Chicago), Carol Townsend (West Chicago)