The Textile Co. & Theater294's PERFECT NIGHT FOR THE PROM Set for Today

This is prom season, when students mark the end of high school with a party (the formal prom or other event) and, sometimes, a prom proposal. One local theater, however, is presenting a play where the prom is the beginning, not the end, of an event.

The Textile Co. and Theater294 are presenting Perfect Night for the Prom today, Friday, June 17, at Theater294, 294 Farmingdale Rd., in East Farmingdale.

The evening, designed to be dinner theater with a twist, includes a buffet dinner from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. followed by a staged reading at 7 p.m. Tickets are $20 for dinner and the performance by clicking Tix.

Alyssa Kirell directs this new play by Claude Solnik about a couple who meet at the prom and change each other's lives.

Kirell appears in the show along with Jen and John Dorcic, Ravi Tawney, Daniel Schinina and Lisa Rozza Haft and Rich Jimenez.

"The play follows someone in the first days after high school," Solnik, a journalist whose plays seek to mix imagination and real events, said. "It looks at the whole family as they all try to figure out the future."

This play, set on Long Island, begins as Amy, a high school senior, played by Alyssa Kirell, meets Trevor, a boy with a rebellious streak played by Ravi Tawney, at the prom.

We see how Amy and her parents, played by Jen and John Dorcic, handle the first days after graduation and post prom.

Daniel Schinina plays Kyle, a bookish boy with a crush on Amy. Rich Jimenez plays Amy's uncle and Lisa Rozza Haft plays a friend of the family.

The play was inspired by a story a friend told Solnik about a woman who ditched her date at the prom only to meet someone else.

"We transform the theater into a sort of prom ballroom," Solnik said. "And then we present the play."

Although the event is technically called a reading, he described the performances as done with script in hand, simply acted without scenery.

"It's a true performance," Solnik said. "The idea is to show people the heart of a play and to showcase the acting, even though we don't provide a set."

The Textile Co. plans to use video and music to round out the experience at Theater294, which earlier presented "The Man With All the Luck" written by Solnik and directed by Debbie Starker.

Studio Theatre Long Island is presenting his "Year of the Iguana" about Tennessee Williams and his sister Rose July 22-Aug. 7.

PERFECT NIGHT FOR THE PROM - June 17, dinner 6-7 p.m., staged reading 7 p.m. Alyssa Kirell directs this play by Claude Solnik with Jen and John Dorcic, Lisa Rozza Haft, Rich Jimenez, Ravi Tawney, Daniel Schinina and Alyssa Kirell. Theater294, 294 Farmingdale Rd. (Route109) East Farmingdale. $20 dinner and show. Tix/info. www.theprom.brownpapertickets.com.