(SPRING LAKE, NJ) -- South Street Players presents The Dining Room by A.R. Gurney across two weekends (May 5-7 and May 12-14) at Wesley Hall in Spring Lake. The play is a comedy of manners, set in a single dining room where 18 scenes from different households overlap and intertwine.
Each story is focused around a different family during different time periods who has in their possession the same dining room furniture set, manufactured in 1898. The stories are about White Anglo-Saxon Protestant (WASP) families. Some scenes are about the furniture itself and the emotional attachment to it, while other scenes simply flesh out the culture of the WASPs.
Overall, it tells the story of the dying and relatively short-lived culture of upper-middle class Americans, and the transition into a much more efficient society with less emphasis on tradition and more emphasis on progress. Some characters are made fun of, as is the culture itself, but there is also a genuine longing for the sense of stability, comfort and togetherness that the culture provides.
The cast includes David Beil, Carl Hoffman, Michael Randazza, Susan Rush, Jeri Georger, and Natalie Pragl. Each actor plays a variety of roles as a number of characters of various ages are represented in the play. The production is Directed by Melanie Taylor and Lorien Bibb is the Stage Manager.
Performances take place Friday, May 5 & 12 at 8:00pm; Saturday, May 6 & 13 at 8:00pm; and Sunday, May 7 & 14 at 2:00pm. Tickets are available for purchase online.
Wesley Hall is located at the corner of 4th and Mercer Avenue Streets in Spring Lake, New Jersey.
This play is being presented by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc.
