Players Present Ensemble Production of The Dining Room

The Blair Academy Players presented The Dining Room, a play by A.R. Gurney, on October 29, 30, and 31 in the Wean Studio Theater of Armstrong-Hipkins Center for the Arts.

The Dining Room is set in the dining room of a typical well-to-do household, the place where the family assembled daily for breakfast and dinner and for any and all special occasions. The action is comprised of 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 as they portray a wide variety of characters, from little boys to stern grandfathers, and from giggling teenage girls to Irish housemaids.

This ensemble production featured Asia Bryant ’10, Henry Herbol ’10, Kimberly VanderVoort ’10, Mikal Davis-West ’11, Rebecca Dewey ’11, James Lieb ’11, Morgan Gardiner ’11, Henry Pskowski ’11, Abigail Salzberg ’11, Javier Tejada ’12, Acacia Steinberg ’13 and Nicole Thompson ’13. Student director, Caitlin Campbell ’10, worked closely with Jen Shields ’10 and Sara Garcia ’13 on costumes and props, among many other behind-the-scene duties essential to a successful production.

Director Micki Kaplan McMillan says, “One of the reasons I picked this play was because of the opportunity it offered for many students to play greatly varying roles. Not only is it an entertaining play, but truly a learning experience for student actors.” Gurney graduated from Williams College in 1952, served as an officer 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 more time to writing for the theatre.

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Updated 11/2/2009

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