The Bridgewater-Raritan High School Theater Arts Department was the host to its annual play production, this year’s show being “The Dining Room” by A.R. Gurney.
The play ran from Friday, January 26 to Sunday, January 28. The cast presented a rendition of the show, providing realistic performances and carefully crafted set pieces.
This show involved two acts with each scene taking place in a dining room. However, each scene introduced a new story line and different characters. This meant that actors would play different roles in every scene they were cast in.
Actors played roles of all ages and from different decades; the play traversed from the 1920s to the 1980s, with a different time in each scene.
The play also could not be trickled down to one specific genre. Every scene had a different tone. The only similarity between every scene was that they all took place in a dining room. This provided the audience with experiences of various types of stories, characters and themes, all in the span of a two-hour play.
Story lines for different scenes included characters coming out to their parents about their identity, confronting others due to issues they may have caused, simple scenes where characters fought or had comedic roles and scenes with familial interactions.
The show was successful with a considerable turnout every day that the play was performed. After each performance, there was a buzz across the audience speaking about the craft and skill of the actors and performers. Numerous bouquets of flowers were handed to numerous members of the cast and crew as well by their respective families.
The assistant stage manager of the show, Harjas Saini, commented on the effort put into the production.
“A lot of work went into putting together this production. The dedication of the staff, crew, and cast truly helped make this show the experience that it became,” Saini said. “The entire production team would like to thank Mr. and Mrs. Gunning because, without them, this show would not have been possible.”
Tom and Teresa Gunning served as the co-directors to the performance. They are the directors of the Bridgewater-Raritan High School Theater Arts Department with Heather Day.
