Dec. 26, 2002 – Auditions for the next Pistarckle Theater production, A.R. Gurney's "The Dining Room," will take place on Jan. 2 at 7 p.m. at the theater in Tillett Gardens. The casting call is for six to eight adults and two children about 12 years of age. Also needed is a stage manager.
The two-act play is a mosaic of 18 scenes, some funny, some touching, some rueful, which have in common the facts that they take place in the same setting – a particular dining room – and that they collectively portray a vanishing family tradition.
In this era of fast and frozen foods, and of most parents holding down jobs outside the home, today's young people may find it hard to fathom that there was a time, not all that long ago, when full households sat down together daily to share not only food but company, conversation and sometimes critical decision-making.
One high school reviewer of a student production of the play wrote: "In the young country of America, which has perhaps grown up too fast, there exists the dying art of the dining room. In the epitome of its existence, families sat down to dinner together every evening in the dining room, sharing stories and forming ties that defined their togetherness."
Each vignette of Gurney's play introduces a new set of people and events, with the actors portraying multiple roles that span the entire 20th century. The dining table is the focal point, as the characters use it not only for meals from breakfast to Thanksgiving dinner, but also for such purposes as folding laundry, hosting a children's birthday party and typing a term paper. Seated there, the audience finds a psychiatrist and his architect, an Alzheimer's patient, a stressed graduate student, an excited child and other characters dealing with rebellion, infidelity, race, sexuality, money, romance, deception and death.
Described as "a successful play without a plot," the work presents challenges of costuming and lighting to convey different periods and moods, with the same actors portraying a serious role one moment and a comedic one soon after.
Joe Merck will be directing the Pistarckle production, which will have performances on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from Jan. 30 through Feb. 22. Rehearsals will be held throughout the month of January. For more information, call 775-7877

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