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September 19, 2003
Section: Weekend
Edition: Final
Page: 18

In A.R. Gurney's "The Dining Room," Tony, played alternately by Lanny Freshman and Keith David Reeves, snaps photographs of and takes notes about Aunt Harriet's (JoAnne Simiele) dining room and all its finery.

He tells her that the dining room is a perfect setting for an anthropological study, his class project, of "various eating habits of a vanishing culture - the vanishing WASP of the Northeaster U.S."

Tony goes on to explain the vanishing culture's obsession with cleanliness, finger bowls and hints of aggression - "pistol knives for dinnerware."

If those dining room walls could talk and tell the story of the people who passed through them and stayed a while, we would be treated to a humorously captivating mosaic of stories about family life, "The Dining Room." And we are.

At Appleseed Productions, under the direction of Patricia Elise Catchouny, we enter into the dining room, which serves as many dining rooms.

Remarkably, six actors panoramically display their talents as they play no fewer than nine roles each. Doug Rougeux changes, within a matter of minutes, from an energetic 6-year-old boy at a birthday party to a pensive grandfather speaking to his grandson.

Lisa Coombs steps into her roles with ease, which include an old woman, a child in a dark pink, fuzzy robe and a maid.

Costuming, red and yellow ribboned hair and flat-girlie-party shoes turn a mom with heels into a kid again.

Many characters, scenes and events tell the story of how the dining room functions in a home. Although they are intertwined, some scenes seem to stand on their own.

On the set are seasoned cherry furnishings, a dining room table and chairs and a buffet. All appear to have a story all their own. Sprinkled about the room are sterling silver pieces and other antiques.

When the French doors open, we see uncharacteristically gloomy black walls, bare without drapery and artwork, lacking the usual ornamentation of upper-middle-class dining rooms. Unlike the walls, there was no lack of luster in the performances.

In "The Dining Room" we are privy to stories of a daughter's marriage gone bad as she asks to come back home with her children.

A father tells his son how he would like his funeral to be arranged and wills "the best I can leave you," the dining room table and chair to him.

An architect with bad memories of eating in his family's dining room proposes restructuring the room by putting a beam through it.

Breakfast, dinners and special occasions occur in the dining room complete with treasured conversation with children, disturbing conversations with aged parents who don't remember their children, and entertaining conversations with guests.

We are humored as Howard accuses his wife of "systematically mutilating" the dining room table as she places her typewriter on it and begins to type.

The skilled multiple-role playing in "The Dining Room" distinguishes this performance as truly remarkable.

Copyright © 2003, The Post-Standard.