‘The Dining Room’: Another View
The dining room a room generally associated with warmth, togetherness, and familial love instead becomes the setting for teenage angst, marital affairs, and family drama in A.R. Gurney's play. In a gripping performance, the cast of Springfield High School's The Dining Room depicted these scenes of WASP culture with grace, poise, and believability.
The dining room – a room generally associated with warmth, togetherness, and familial love – instead becomes the setting for teenage angst, marital affairs, and family drama in A.R. Gurney's play. In a gripping performance, the cast of Springfield High School's The Dining Room depicted these scenes of WASP culture with grace, poise, and believability.
The Dining Room, which spans from the Great Depression to the 1980s, is a satire of upper-middle class Americans. The play is comprised of eighteen separate vignettes, with each scene revolving around a different family. These scenes portray both typical and atypical occurrences in WASP households, from discussions of tradition and reputation to a struggle with Alzheimer's. As the actors shift from one role to the next, they build a larger story that encapsulates the whole of American elitism.
In this ensemble show, each actor rose to the challenge of playing a new character in every scene. Their transitions were virtually flawless, complete with different physical mannerisms and accents. James Cella, as Actor 1, showed great versatility, playing characters such as a young schoolboy, a crotchety grandfather, and a dying father. Marissa Gibson, Actress 1, also demonstrated incredible emotional depth in her portrayal of a conniving mother, a woman with Alzheimer's, and a mother struggling with the guilt of her extra-marital affair. As Actress 3, Valerie Broussard was excellent as well as a grad student frustrated with her husband, a young birthday girl, and a caring maid.
The situations in The Dining Room ranged from comical to touching, and the actors thrived in both. While scenes such as that between an architect (Shawn Danzi) and a psychiatrist (Rob Leinheiser) kept the mood light, ones such as the Alzheimer's scene kept the audience emotionally involved. The interaction between Meg (Megan Falasco) and her father Jim (Rob Leinheiser) was particularly moving. Playing a woman begging to return home after a series of failed relationships, Megan Falasco made the audience feel her pain. The scene between Grace (Marissa Gibson) and her daughter Carolyn (Shannon Lamoureux) was another standout, as Carolyn, like many others throughout the play, expressed her disdain for the tradition and elitism of the upper-middle class.
Under the direction of Mary Reilly, this group of talented actors shone. Reilly's choice of simple yet distinct costume changes allowed the audience to focus on the dialogue, and she skillfully staged the overlapping scenes so that their separation was both believable and easy to follow.
With its mature content, unique format, and complicated staging, The Dining Room is difficult both to direct and to act. Springfield High School seized the opportunity, though, and, exhibiting mastery beyond their years, gave a truly brilliant performance.