Piedmont Avenue Repertory Theatre to Present THE DINING ROOM, Begin. 11/21

The newly organized Piedmont Avenue Repertory Theatre (P.A.R.T.) will perform its inaugural production "The Dining Room" by A. R. Gurney on Thanksgiving weekend and the weekend before at the Piedmont Center for the Arts, 801 Magnolia St., Piedmont, CA.

It is about the human comedy-and drama- that goes on in that special room that gets a lot of use in November and December. Gurney is perhaps best known for his play "Sylvia" (about a lost dog played by a woman), and he specializes in writing about "the upper-middle class WASPs of the northeastern United States."

An intriguing "hook" to the play is that six actors play 57 parts. The cast includes John Hale, Jamie Harkin, Brett Mermer, Kelley Shea, Aaron Vanderbeek, and Susannah Wood. The Dramatists script explains, "The actors change roles, personalities and ages with virtuoso skill as they portray a wide variety of characters, from little boys to stern grandfathers, and from giggling teenage girls to Irish housemaids

Gurney's play is "the perfect play for grown-ups for the holidays." said director John A. McMullen II who is the producer and artistic director of the new company. Don Cate, former chair of the City College of SF Theatre Department does lighting, and Regina Cate, retired head of the costume department at CSU/East Bay does costumes.

The theatre company is searching for a venue to perform on Piedmont Avenue in Oakland to bring Live Theatre for grown-ups to Oakland - an art that is absent in a city of 400,000.

This first production is being held up the road from Piedmont Avenue in the City of Piedmont thanks to the cooperation of Nancy Lehrkind who is the moving force behind the Center, and is on the Advisory Board of P.A.R.T.

Tickets are $25 for all and available at (800) 838-3006 or at TheDiningRoom.brownpapertickets.com.

The company's website is www.PiedmontAveRep.org

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