Beginning Directing Scenes

About the show

Beginning Directing students will direct Acting 1 students in The Dining Room by A. R. Gurney. Student directors include Alyssa Catalani, Jemma Casem, Hannah Jones, Tony Pascalar, Cristina Purkey, Cameron Ramirez, Dominic Thompson and DeAndre Williams.

This hilarious and touching comedy is set in the dining room of a typical well–to–do household, where the family assembles daily for any and all special occasions. This mosaic of interrelated scenes — some funny, some touching, some rueful — create a portrait of a vanishing species: the upper–middle–class WASP. Each vignette introduces a new set of people and events (and each with a different director); a father lectures his son on grammar and politics; a couple fight over the proper use of the dining room space, a child returns from boarding school to discover their mother’s infidelity; teenage girls raid the parent’s liquor cabinet and discuss family meal time, a grandson is sent to ask his grandfather to pay for boarding school, and a woman dreams of hosting the perfect dinner party. Each scene blends into the next creating “a whole pattern of American life” and the slow demise of the dining room where families once came together for better or for worse. Each scene is directed by a different student director with students from the Acting 1 class.

Box Office information:

Tickets are $7 for full price and $5 for students 13+ (any school, one ticket per ID). Tickets are available online starting November 21 at noon, and the box office will open on December 2. Seating is reserved. Located in Ford Hall, box office hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 3 to 5 p.m. and until 7:30 p.m. on performance days. We encourage you to order online with our digital ticket or print–at–home option.

The Marshall Theatre is accessible. Please contact the box office for help with accessible seating. For more information, call 503.883.2292.

Warnings: This play may not be suitable for all audiences due to mature content and language. Recommended for ages 13 and older. Children under the age of seven (including babes in arms) will not be admitted to any performance.

Sponsorship: This production is sponsored by the Linfield Theatre Program and presented by special arrangement with Broadway Licensing, LLC, servicing the Dramatists Play Service collection.

Directions to Ford Hall and Marshall Theatre

From Highway 99W in south McMinnville, turn east on Keck Drive at Albertsons. Take Keck Drive to Lever Street, and turn right. Take the next immediate right at Ford Drive into the theatre parking lot. Ford Hall is located at the west end of the parking lot.

Playwrights Welcome

Playwrights Welcome is a program created to provide free access to theatre for theatre writers around the country. Developed for the Dramatists Guild of America members, this national ticketing initiative was created by Samuel French, a Concord Theatricals company, along with input from other publishing and licensing houses. To receive a ticket through Playwrights Welcome at our theatre, please contact the box office up to 24 hours before the performance. Writers must present their Dramatists Guild membership card when obtaining a ticket.

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