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The Dining Room

Full-Length Play, Comedy  /  3w, 3m

A.R. Gurney

A richly humorous theatrical tour de force (and off-Broadway success) in which six (or more) performers portray a wide array of diverse characters as they delineate the dying lifestyle of wealthy WASPdom in the now neglected room which was once a vital center of family life.

The Dining Room

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  • Cast Size
    Cast Size
    3w, 3m
  • Duration
    Duration
    120 minutes (2 hours)
  • Audience
    Target Audience
    Adult
Accolades
Accolades

  • Finalist: 1985 Pulitzer Prize for Drama

Details

Summary

Set in the dining room of a typical well-to-do household, The Dining Room is a mosaic of interrelated scenes – some funny, some touching, some rueful – which, taken together, create an in-depth portrait of a vanishing species: the upper-middle-class WASP. The actors change roles, personalities and ages with virtuoso skill as they portray a wide variety of characters, from little boys to stern grandfathers, and from giggling teenage girls to Irish housemaids. Each vignette introduces a new set of people and events: a father lectures his son on grammar and politics; a boy returns from boarding school to discover his mother’s infidelity; a senile grandmother doesn’t recognize her own sons at Christmas dinner; a daughter, her marriage a shambles, pleads futilely to return home. Dovetailing swiftly and smoothly, the varied scenes coalesce, ultimately, into a theatrical experience of exceptional range, compassionate humor and abundant humanity.

History

The Dining Room premiered off-Broadway at the Studio Theatre of Playwrights Horizons on 31 January 1981. Directed by David Trainer, the production featured Remak Ramsay, John Shea, William H. Macy, Lois de Banzie, Ann McDonough and Pippa Pearthree.

Cast Attributes
Keywords
Performing Groups
ACTOR 1 – Father, Michael, Brewster, Grandfather, Stuart, Gordon, David, Harvey and Host
ACTOR 2 ­– Client, Howard, Psychiatrist, Ted, Paul, Ben, Chris, Jim, Dick and Guest
ACTOR 3 – Arthur, Boy, Architect, Billy, Nick, Fred, Tony, Standish and Guest
ACTRESS 1 – Agent, Mother, Carolyn, Sandra, Dora, Margery, Beth, Kate, Claire and Ruth
ACTRESS 2 – Annie, Grace, Peggy, Nancy, Sarah, Harriet, Emily, Annie and Guest
ACTRESS 3 – Sally, Girl, Ellie, Aggie, Winkie, Old Lady, Helen, Meg, Bertha and Guest

If a cast of six is used, and there are strong arguments for using this number, the casting breakdown as set out has proved to be workable and successful.

  • Time Period Contemporary, 1980s
  • Setting

    An upper-middle-class dining room. 1920s-1980s.

  • Features Contemporary Costumes/Street Clothes, Period Costumes
  • Duration 120 minutes (2 hours)

Media

“The Dining Room serves a banquet of theatrical riches.” – New York Daily News

“Hilarious and touching… as comic sketch crazily succeeds comic sketch a whole pattern of American life emerges.” – The New York Post

“A thoughtful and superbly written comedy.” – Variety

“Often funny and rueful and, by the end, very moving.” – The New York Times

Licensing & Materials

  • Minimum Fee: £70 per performance plus VAT when applicable.

Scripts

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Authors

A.R. Gurney

A.R. Gurney
A.R. (“Pete”) Gurney was born in 1930 in Buffalo, New York. He graduated from Williams College in 1952, served as an officer in the Navy, and afterwards attended the Yale School of Drama. For many years, he taught literature at M.I.T., but moved to New York in 1982 to devote ...
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