|
WINDY CITY TIMES
|
|
|
The Dining Room
Playwright: A.R. Gurney
by Mary Shen Barnidge 2001-07-18
|
|
This article shared 2757 times since Wed Jul 18, 2001
|
|
It's a solid wood table, split at the center to accommodate an extra leaf ( or maybe two ) . It comes with six large, hard-seated chairs, all shipped in 1898 from a factory in Wilkes-Barre, Penn. It's the sort of furniture about which people say, "They don't make it like that any more." Indeed, this is said several times during the course of A.R. Gurney's social history of 20th-century America as revealed by its rituals conducted within the sanctuary surrounding this icon.
In this room, we hear a mother unsuccessfully attempt to forestall her prepubescent daughter's romantic impulses, and a father successfully turn his son from democratic influence. We see a young man petition his grandsire for the money that will provide him an education far from home and a young woman in a troubled marriage negotiate a return to the nest. A small boy bids a heartbroken farewell to a departing housemaid, a prep-school youth returns home unexpectedly to discover his mother in an illicit affair, and two teenage academy-girls make an unsupervised raid on their parents' liquor cabinet. An aged father reviews his funeral arrangements, a family Thanksgiving dinner is disrupted by the clan dowager's wavering memory, while another supper is aborted as Daddy rushes off to avenge an insult to the sibling whose "bachelor acquaintances" have aroused comment among their club fellows. ( "Is Uncle Henry a fruit?" asks one of the children, adroitly dispensing with euphemisms. )
This milieu is identified as "the WASPs of Northern New England" by the nephew who outrages his aunt with ridicule of her antiquated lifestyle, but Gurney's documentation is not restricted to that privileged segment of the population. If the arc of the individual scenes grow somewhat repetitive after a time...children defy the status quo while their parents defend it ( albeit sometimes abandoning white-collar jobs to pursue hobbies full-time, as with the stockbroker-turned-carpenter who bonds with a freshly divorced matron over the restoration of that same venerable table ) ...it is in part due to the capable ensemble work of the six actors assembled for this TinFish theatre production, whose protean rendering of their disparate characters...57 in all...allows us to find the universality in Gurney's insights into our country's progress from Elitism to Egalitarianism.
|
|
|
|
This article shared 2757 times since Wed Jul 18, 2001
|
ARTICLES YOU MIGHT LIKE |
---|
|
| | Kokandy Productions now accepting submissions for Chicago Musical Theater Fest returning Aug. 8-11 2024-04-18 --From a press release - CHICAGO (April 18, 2024) — Kokandy Productions is pleased to open submissions for the 2024 Chicago Musical Theatre Festival, returning this summer following a four-year hiatus. Kokandy is thrilled to ...
|
| | THEATER Blue in the Right Way's 'Women Beware Women' offers feminist, trans take on a troubling Jacobean tragedy 2024-04-18 - "Problematic" is a great go-to adjective to describe Women Beware Women. This 1621 Jacobean tragedy is by English playwright Thomas Middleton, who is probably best remembered as a collaborator with William Shakespeare on their pessimistic tragedy ...
|
| | Hubbard Street Dance Chicago announces programs for May 17-19 season finale 2024-04-17 --From a press release - CHICAGO — Hubbard Street Dance Chicago (HSDC) announced program selections for Spring Series: Of Joy, the final installment of Season 46, Abundance. The engagement will include four unique works, once ...
|
| | LGBTQ+ film fest Queer Expression to feature Alexandra Billings in 'Queen Tut' 2024-04-12 --From a press release - CHICAGO — Pride Film Fest celebrates its second decade with a new name—QUEER EXPRESSION—and has announced its slate of LGBTQ+-themed feature, mid-length and short films for in-person and virtual events in April and May. QUEER EXPRESSI ...
|
| | Open Space Arts's COCK offers a complex but compelling take on relationships 2024-04-08 By Brian Kirst - Premiering in 2009, Mike Bartlett's COCK was a comic revelation, exploring notions about fluidity and sexual labelling long before they became commonplace discussions. Granted, conversations about these issues will always ...
|
| | Jeff Awards launches submission period for Impact Awards 2024-04-06 - The Jeff Awards announced the opening period for applications submissions for its 2024 honors to help inspire early career artists of color in the Greater Chicagoland area. Two recipients will be selected for awards of $10,000 ...
|
| | SHOWBIZ Outfest, Chita Rivera, figure skaters, letter, playwright dies 2024-04-05 - For more than four decades, Outfest has been telling LGBTQ+ stories through the thousands of films screened during its annual Outfest Los Angeles LGBTQ+ Film Festival—but that event may have a different look this year because ...
|
| | SHOWBIZ Dionne Warwick, OUTshine, Ariana DeBose, 'Showgirls,' 'Harlem' 2024-03-29 Video below - Iconic singer Dionne Warwick was honored for her decades-long advocacy work for people living with HIV/AIDS at a star-studded amfAR fundraising gala in Palm Beach, per the Palm Beach Daily News. Warwick received the "Award of ...
|
| | WORLD Israel court, conversion therapy, death sentences, Georgia bill, fashion items 2024-03-29 - Israel's Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the Population Authority must register female couples as mothers on the birth certificates of their children they have together, The Washington Blade reported. The decision was made following a petition ...
|
| | City Lit Executive Artistic Director Brian Pastor talks theater, comics, queerness 2024-03-26 - City Lit Theater has announced its programming for the 2024-25 seasonwhich will be the company's 44th. It will also be the first season to be programmed under the leadership of Brian Pastor (they/them), who will assume ...
|
| | The Jeff Awards announces the 50th anniversary awards for non-equity theater 2024-03-26 --From a press release - A complete list of recipients can also be found online in the Non-Equity and News and Events sections at www.jeffawards.org. (March 25, 2024 - Chicago) — Celebrating its 50th anniversary awarding recognition for Non-Equity theater, the ...
|
| | SHOWBIZ Queer musicians, Marvel situation, Elliot Page, Nicole Kidman 2024-03-21 - Queer musician Joy Oladokun released the single "I Wished on the Moon," from Jack Antonoff's official soundtrack for the new Apple TV+ series The New Look, per a press release. The soundtrack, ...
|
| | THEATER Chicago's City Lit has anxiety on tap with 'Two Hours in a Bar' 2024-03-21 - Two Hours in a Bar Waiting for Tina Meyer by Kristine Thatcher with material by Larry Shue Text Me by Kingsley Day (Book, Music and Lyrics). At: City Lit Theater, 1020 W. Bryn Mawr Ave.. Tickets: ...
|
| | Jamie Barton brings nuances of identity to her Lyric Opera 'Aida' performance 2024-03-18 - Chicago's Lyric Opera is currently featuring a production of Giuseppe Verdi's Aida starring Michelle Bradley as Aida, Jamie Barton as Amneris and Russell Thomas as Radamès. The opera runs through April 7, 2024, with Francesca Zambello ...
|
| | Queer Eye's Jai Rodriguez is set to slay at The Big Gay Cabaret 2024-03-05 - Out and proud performer Jai Rodriguez is set to play at The Big Gay Cabaret this March for three days. Presented by RuPaul Drag Racer Ginger Minj, this monthly series highlights the wide world of cabaret ...
| |
|
|
|
|