Dining Room

Dining Room by A. R. Gurney is composed of 18 separate scenes with 57 characters played by 6 actors. It is a dramatic comedy of manners that focuses on the lives of several families played in and around and under the dining room table. Gurney views WASP American life with an affectionate, yet critical eye.

Director – Steve Burch
Cast – Matt Gabbard, Carrie Poh, Corey Rives, Mary Catherine Waltman, Michael Witherell, and Andrea J. Love
Scene Designer – Garrett Walsh
Costume Designer – Cassie Kay Hoppas
Lighting Designer – Joshua Davis
Stage Manager – Jessica Poma

PHOTO GALLERY

Images from the 2014 production. Photos property of The University of Alabama’s Department of Theatre and Dance. Photographs by Porfirio Solorzano.

AUDIO

Original music composed and performed by Andrea J. Love.
Track 03 is a traditional Irish folk song also performed by Andrea J. Love.

Audio file too large for upload. Alternate file or linked media needed.

REVIEWS

“Dining Room” by Alabama’s theater department features a small cast, but dozens of parts
Tuscaloosa News, September 25, 2014
Like his better-known “Love Letters,” A.R. Gurney wrote the “The Dining Room” as a series of episodes. Unlike “Love Letters,” an epistolary tale told by a pair of longtime friends, “The Dining Room” rolls with nearly 60, rather than two, characters. Part of the complexity is that those different figures, ranging in ages, settings and eras, are played by just six actors.
Read the entire story…

REVIEW: “Dining Room” actors show versatility
In A.R. Gurney’s “The Dining Room,” one dining room set (table and chairs, with matching sideboard/buffet) passes through numerous hands and generations, an anchor to 18 or so family groups traveling through various travails, symbol of both solidity and stolidity. Like the WASPS it celebrates, mourns and mocks, it’s neither as antique as it first appears — a knockoff of earlier European styles — nor as precious. Underneath, it’s just plain wood.
Read the rest of the review…