COD College Theater Presents “The Dining Room” Feb. 24-March 13

School of DuPage (COD) School Theater opens 2022 with “The Dining Space,” by A.R. Gurney at the McAninch Arts Heart (MAC) Studio Theater, Feb. 24-March 13. “‘The Dining Room’ serves a banquet of theatrical riches,” says the New York Day-to-day Information, Wide range phone calls it, “a considerate and superbly written comedy,” and the New York Instances hails it as “generally funny and rueful and, by the stop, quite moving.” Co-chair of the COD Theater Division and Buffalo Theatre Ensemble Controlling Inventive Director Connie Canaday Howard directs.

Covering 7 many years of upper center class family existence in New England, starting in the 1930s, “The Dining Space” attributes 18 vignettes are all set all-around a dining home table around breakfast or dinner and reflect a range of special situations. The 10 actors alter roles, personalities and ages as they portray a wide assortment of people sharing a mosaic of tales with a array of compassionate humor and considerable humanity, demonstrating that modify is inescapable. “The Dining Space” premiered at the Studio Theatre of Playwrights Horizons in January 1981 and was a finalist for the 1985 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

“The emergence of the COVID pandemic threw lives close to the earth into a sample of regular and unpredictable modify,” says Canaday Howard. “We all were being impelled to deal with each new improve to the very best of our ability but we also felt the require to manage some semblance of normalcy. Gurney’s figures come across themselves in a related scenario. As they see the entire world as they know disappearing, we see them coping — from time to time in amusing and occasionally in awkward approaches — the most effective that they can.

The cast for “The Dining Room” attributes Dillon Connolly (Arthur, Architect, Billy, Tony, Visitor) Elmeka Elme (Sally, Carolyn, Dora, Nancy, Meg, Guest) Luke Hernandez (Boy-Charlie, Grandfather, Fred, Gordon, Harvey, Host) Nicholas Ilo (Father, Michael, Brewster, Ben, David, Visitor) Alyson Meyers (Lady, Peggy, Beth, Sarah, Bertha, Guest) Olivia Reamer (Mom, Aggie, Margery, Helen, Claire, Ruth) Monica Rosales (Annie, Grace, Winkie, Harriet, Emily, Annie)Chris Talia (Consumer, Psychiatrist, Nick, Stuart, Jim, Dick, Visitor) Nicholas Washington (Howard, Ted, Paul, Chris, Standish, Visitor) and Lilly Zuniga (Agent, Ellie, Sandra, Old Girl, Kate, Guest).

The style group for “The Dining Home” involves Connie Canaday Howard (director), Sabrina Zeidler (scenic and properties style and design), Kimberly G. Morris (costume and make-up layout), Elias Morales (lights design and style), Jon Gantt (creation assist) and Fisher Parsons (sound style and design). Christopher Yee is phase supervisor and a 2nd Metropolis John Belushi Scholar Recipient.

Gurney (1930-2017) was an academic, writer and playwright. He wrote approximately 50 plays such as “Sweet Sue,” which featured Mary Tyler Moore and Lynn Redgrave in the 1986-87 Broadway operate “Sylvia” which showcased Sarah Jessica Parker, Blythe Danner and Charles Kimbrough in its 1995 off Broadway debut and his Pulitzer Prize nominated performs “The Dining Place” and “Appreciate Letters.” The Wall Avenue Journal has termed his performs “penetratingly witty studies of the WASP ascendancy in retreat.” “Most of my performs are really close to residence,” Gurney informed Playbill in 2010. “That was really a lot my family on phase.” Honors and awards involve the PEN/Laura Pels International Basis for Theater Award as a master American dramatist (2007) and the Life time Accomplishment Award at the 2016 Obie Awards.

COD Higher education Theater’s presents “The Dining Area” by A.R. Gurney, directed by Connie Canaday Howard at the McAninch Arts Center’s Studio Theater, 425 Fawell Blvd. on the campus of School of DuPage, Feb. 24-March 13. Performances are 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $16 (grownup) and $14 (student). There will also be a pre-present discussion with director and designers 6:45 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 24 and a article-present dialogue with director, actors and crew Friday, March 4. You should be aware: This enjoy takes advantage of grownup language and themes. For tickets or much more data, pay a visit to AtTheMAC.org or contact the MAC Box Place of work at 630.942.4000.

Also take note: MAC COVID-19 policies now call for masking and evidence of COVID-19 vaccination or a unfavorable examination (no matter of age). For far more data or protocol updates take a look at AtTheMAC.org.