On Sept. 18, Palm Beach Atlantic S Theater Department Will Open Its First Play of The

On Sept. 18, Palm Beach Atlantic’s theater department will open its first play of the season, “The Dining Room” by A.R. Gurney. Cast members include Chris Marks, Christy Lawler, Elizabeth DeMarco, Elizabeth Closter, Joshua Hanna and Shane Lord. These actors demonstrate their range by making changes, often swift, in both costume and character. The play has a total of 57 characters, but there are 6 actors. Each actor will be playing 9 or 10 parts in the span of approximately 2 hours. “It has been emotionally, mentally draining and phsyically draining to play that many characters in that short period of time,” said Chris Marks, who plays every persona from a seven year old boy to a eighty year old grandfather. “One of my fellow cast members joked that we should prepare for our parts by convincing ourselves that we have multiple personalities.” Assistant professor of theatre, and director Robert Homer-Drummond describes the play as a “dramedy.” The story is “written in the style of a comed, but also moments that are kind of serious.” There are also many scene changes, but there is one piece that stays the same, a dining room table. One of the major themes of the play is the loss of family values over several generations. The set, like generations of a single family is the one constant throughout the play: The values may change, but the essential dynamic is still there. “The show begs for an audience,” Marks said. “There is not going to be one person in the audience, who can’t relate to the show. The show targets every family issue you could think of.” Around this table, each family struggles with its own issues, from the senility of a grandparent to divorce to a child coming home from college to find surprising changes made to his family. “The Dining Room, in particular, is an appropriate production for PBA to present because, at its heart, it is really about the loss of family values and/or the individual moral center,” said Hommer-Drummond.The play is being held in the Scwartz Theater at the Norton Museum of Art, which has been home to last year’s play, The Fantasticks. “It's an added advantage to do the play in a museum, because the overall feeling of the production is one of an exhibit of the nearly extinct culture of the American dining room, said Ben Lusk, one of the technical directors. “I hope the scene design will reflect and hopefully enhance that experience for theaudience.” Other theatre staff working on the play include associate professor of theatre and chair of the theatre department Daniel Gordon. Gordon is the scenic designer.

Tickets Available

Tickets for the play cost $6 for PBA students with their I.D. card. It’s also $6 for Staff and faculty. $10 for senior citizens and PBA alumni; and $12 for the general public. Showings take place Tues. through Sat. Sept. 18-20 at 8 p.m., with 2 p.m. matinees on Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 21-22. Tickets may be purchased by calling 561-803-2970, or by emailing [email protected].