You're invited to...The Dining Room

I hope you have all had a wonderful holiday so far! I'm on a short break from rehearsals for The Dining Room at Oil Lamp Theater, and so far it has been quite the challenging and oddly serendipitous experience. The challenge has been tackling 10 different roles in one short play. We get about 6 minutes per scene to fully establish a living breathing character, and then we all have to move on. Finding the quirks and differences in all these characters has been really fun - as well as watching all the other actors discover their characters as well.

I've also found to be connecting the the subject of this play - the WASP (white anglo saxon protestants, for the unintiated) "dining room" culture in odd ways. I recently hosted my first "formal" dinner at my apartment with family, and I found myself doing my best imitation of a proper dining room setup like in the play. I may not have had fancy napkin rings or crystal glassware, but it felt special all the same. Something about preparing and sharing food with others, and the ceremony of it, I think is something we can all relate to on some level. 

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Then, just a few days ago, I was given my late Aunt Debbie's set of fine china. These were given to my Aunt Lynn, her sister, but as she's started a new adventuring traveling the country, these beautiful dishes were bound to be put in storage. I offered to take them and now display them in my cabinets. It's a really beautiful and colorful set, that even includes full tea service for 8 - something this tea lover was quite excited about. I hope to give these lovely dishes some use rather than collect dust. And maybe someday my Aunt's children may want them, and they'll move on. It just seems wrong to put something like a person's china in storage, so for now I am their proud keeper. It's a small way to honor my family and keep my aunt's memory alive. In relation to the play, it helps me understand the outwardly bizarre attachment the characters in this play have to their fine possessions and customs. ​

I hope you are able to attend this play - there's really some excellent work happening in the rehearsal room and I'm excited to share these poignant stories with audiences at OLT.

I'm happy to share my friends & family discount with you, readers! Just use code "dining" to get $5 off tickets. Also search for us on Goldstar.com to get 1/2 price tickets on select nights. We run Jan 12-Feb 26th - see you at the theatre!

Purchase tickets here: http://oillamptheater.org/calendar/the-dining-room/
Goldstar Tickets here: https://www.goldstar.com/events/glenview-il/the-dining-room-tickets

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