'Dining Room' serves slice of life

Author: Alexxa Gotthardt

On Thursday, for the second weekend in a row, Hepburn Zoo opens its doors to reveal an entirely student directed and acted theatrical production. This week, "The Dining Room," a collaborative directorial endeavor of Myra Palmero '07, Ben Salkowe '07 and Lisa Zaval '07, takes the stage; presenting a series of vignettes, both slapstickzz and serious, playful and poignant, which reveal the inner-workings of everyday family life. The over 50 characters in the play, ranging from little boys to grandfathers to teenage girls to Irish housemaids, are played by Ted Armstrong '07, Jessica Cox '07, Ben Davis '07, Leah Day '07.5, Aaron Gensler '08, Ellen Grafton '08, Sara Jameson '09, Matt Johnstone '07, Justine Katzenbach '08.5, Amanda Mitchell '08, Katie Peters '06, Emily Picciotto 09, John Rayburn '07 and Brian Siegele '07.

"The Dining Room," written by A.J. Gurney, one of America's most prolific and produced playwrights, opened in New York in 1982 and earned a Pulitzer Prize nomination. Recognized as a "WASP writer," Gurney carved a niche for himself creating plays centered around issues, relationships and absurd concerns of the White American bourgeoisie.

"The Dining Room," perhaps one of the best examples of Gurney's ability to all at once reveal and poke fun at upper-middle class white culture, focuses on a variety of events which take place in the room that was once the heart of American family life, the dining room. A series of 13 scenes takes place in the dining room, each depicting a different set of characters, a different kind of human interaction and a different aspect of everyday life. Ultimately, this series of scenes combines to create a whole, honest, often comedic representation of a very complex culture, a representation that encourages viewers to think about the ever-changing American society and the nature of familial relationships. "Despite its title, it's a play about people and their relationships, not the dining room itself," said Zaval. "The different characters and generations appear as ghosts of a lost culture, and we're left to wonder whether change is for better or worse," added Salkowe.

Though a challenging, complex play, the three directors, friends since freshman year, enjoyed working together and with their actors, to create their own version of "The Dining Room." "It can be hard both for the directors and actors to have three people equally in charge," said Palmero. "But as friends, Ben, Lisa and I came into this trusting each other and with a common vision for the production."

Not only did the directors work together, but the actors too collaborated and combined harmoniously to create an energy and atmosphere essential to a successful play. "Despite the fact that only one of our actors is a theatre major, all of the actors are so talented and have been extremely committed," said Zaval. Salkowe echoed these sentiments: "'Tri-directing' with Myra and Lisa was a blast, but the real reason it all worked was because the cast has been simply amazing. They are truly an ensemble; every one of them is ridiculously good, incredibly funny and really believes in the play and its message."