Dinner with Friends

TheatreZone celebrates the Grand Opening of the Chelsea Theatre Works with Margulies' masterful exploration of intimacy, passion, and trust.

October 10-November 1, Thurs.-Sat. 8:00, Chelsea Theatre Works

189 Winnisimmet Street, Chelsea Square

Four years in the renovating, the 65-100 seat theatre at the new Chelsea Theatre Works is ready for its Grand Opening. After seven years of producing at the old Actors Workshop on Boylston Street (soon to be a condo complex), TheatreZone's last season consisted of performances at a cafe, in living rooms, and our bilingual, environmental Lorca in the Park. We are thrilled to kick off our first season in our new performing arts center with Margulies' succulent comedy of "modern manners."

Winner of the 2000 Pulitzer Prize, Dinner with Friends tells the story of two married couples who have been best friends for years. When one couple breaks up, the fallout threatens to shatter not only the foursome's friendships, but their perceptions of themselves. Drawing off the experience of his own long-term marriage and those of his friends, Margulies examines the friendship of couples who have had an unspoken agreement that they would be friends- as couples-'til death do they part. In the very real break-up of one of the couples, the other couple's marriage undergoes a scrutiny of its own. "What happens when close friends go through these sorts of crises is that it brings into stark relief your own marriage," says Margulies. "There are no simple solutions in the play at all. But I think it deals realistically with the terrors that I think we all experience in a long marriage."

Donald Margulies' is the author of Collected Stories, Sight Unseen (Obie Award for Best New American Play, Pulitzer Prize finalist), The Loman Family Picnic, The Model Apartment (Obie Award), and his adaptation of Sholom Asch's Yiddish classic, God of Vengeance. Dinner with Friends premiered at the 1998 Humana Festival of New American Plays and opened in New York in 1999. Mr. Margulies lives with his wife and son in New Haven, Connecticut, where he teaches playwriting at the Yale School of Drama.

TheatreZone purchased the historic Old Post Office Building/Odd Fellows Hall in 1999, and began the process of fundraising and renovations. As the renovations have progressed, we have been able to begin running our educational programs for youth and adults on-site, and we are extremely excited to begin producing in the theater.

Directed by Danielle Fauteux Jacques
Assistant Director: Stephanie Steinbach
Stage Manager: Angel Garcia
Asst. Stage Manager: Eileen Rooney
Set Design: Alex Van Meter
Sound Design: Fay Gerbes
Lighting Design: Noah Dubreuil
Costume Designer: Cynthia Knight
House Manager: Liz Kurtz, Ida Rudolf