The Dining Room is comprised of 18 vignettes and over 50 characters played by only a handful of actors. Do you find that breaking it down into sections makes it easier or harder to direct than the entire show? 
I think it’s tougher in that there is less of an overall journey for me to help the audience through.  I have the end of the play, and endings are always hard.  Especially when you have no control over the beginning and middle of a play!  You need to wrap things up, make a statement for the whole play, but not get too sentimental with it in this case.  We keep it simple, slightly stylized.  To me the end is about coming together.  It symbolizes the family and tradition of this society.  And also celebrates the actors who as an ensemble have worked hard to make this happen. 

Are you approaching your section of The Dining Room as mutually exclusive from the other two pieces?
Yes. In fact, I am treating each vignette as if it were its own short play.  Since each one involves completely different, unrelated characters, we need to make sure the audience gets the Who, What, and When.  The actors are fleshing out their characters, finding the story arc and the “event” of the scene, and working to get what they want or need independently of the play as a whole.  

I would actually approach it the same way if I were directing the entire show.  Each vignette gives us a different glimpse of an aspect of the “WASPS.  Of  the Northeastern United States” (to quote a character).  Different generations, all sorts of different family dynamics.  By giving us this variety of people and situations, the playwright A. R. Gurney allows us to see a full picture of this socio-economic group at a particular time.  By writing this way, Gurney lets the sum of the parts create its own arc.

​​​Do you find anything to be particularly challenging about your “slice” of The Dining Room?

I’m not sure my “slice” of The Dining Room” is any more challenging than the others.  The main challenge for all of the directors is helping the actors create interesting and unique characters played by the same actors.  Also, staging each scene in a dining room (and with the audience on all sides of us) creates a challenge for inventive staging.

However, one of my favorite vignettes in the whole play is in my section, and it is also one of the most challenging.  I find it to be stylistically different than most others.  It feels big and farcical.  I wanted to go whole hog with the farce, but not have it feel like it doesn’t belong with all the other scenes.  Also, when doing farce, the challenge is to make it truthful and not go into slapstick.  When done well, it allows us to point out the absurdity of things, but not disregard them.

At its core, The Dining Room is about: How people and families can be separated, distant.  It is about how circumstance and tradition can push us apart. 

Tell us a story from your life that happened at a dining room table. 

For the life of me, I can’t think of an interesting story in a dining room!  I remember eating.  And talking a lot.  If this play were called The Living Room, or perhaps The Rumpus Room, I’d have a good one for you.  

The Dining Room is comprised of 18 vignettes and over 50 characters played by only a handful of actors. Do you find that breaking it down into sections makes it easier or harder to direct than the entire show? 
I think it’s certainly more difficult. Chiefly, you lose the structure that creates the arc of the play. There is also something magical for audiences about witnessing 6 actors transform into over 50 different characters and we lose that effect with this approach. 

However, creativity flourishes when boundaries and rules are applied, and the pursuit of that creative vision has to be clear. Therefore, the limitations presented to the directors in the Bake-Off have forced all of us to explore ways to push the boundaries of what is actually possible within our vision, and to ultimately create something that is uniquely ours.

Are you approaching your section of The Dining Room as mutually exclusive from the other two pieces?
I’m approaching section 2 of The Dining Room as a stand-alone play within a play. It has it’s own micro-arc, dramatic structure, unique design elements, and specific message. I don’t believe my directorial choices would hold up if I were applying them to the entire play, but for this project, it was my desire to make interesting and bold choices that reflect the message I’m trying to relay. 

There do exist themes and qualities that will naturally bleed over into the two sections that bookend mine, but I believe John and Jamien will present their “slices” in a way that is completely unique to mine. I’m excited for them to unveil their work and put all three of these segments together. I imagine the journey and message of the play as it was originally intended will transcend the three different directorial approaches.

There are clear challenges to not having control over the entire show.

​​​Do you find anything to be particularly challenging about your “slice” of The Dining Room?

One particular challenge has been to keep the actors focused on playing authentic and truthful scenes within the odd world I’ve created. I’ve not made it easy for them by choosing to present an atmosphere with overt, non-realistic design elements that express the themes I’m trying to get across to the audience. It’s easy for them to “indicate” or “point at” or “suggest at” some of the thematic expressions I’m making, but in order for my vision to be effective, they have to accept the design elements as reality and play the truthful actions and motivations for the characters, as writ, in each scene.   

At its core, The Dining Room is about: …the struggle between desire to escape the disparaging guilt of WASP culture, and holding onto the social, financial, religious, and political comforts it provides. Although antiquated, this play presents a relevant opportunity to be a voice for the masses, expressing disapproval for the excessive power and wealth of the 1%. 

Tell us a story from your life that happened at a dining room table. 
As a child, I spent more time under the dining room table than I did sitting at it. The table legs, hardware, supports, leaf latches and slides, tucked-in chairs, and draping tablecloth provided the ultimate atmosphere for GI-Joe military and ninja missions. With a bit of yarn from my mother’s knitting basket, I could create elaborate systems of ropes, zip lines, and webbing for my Joe warriors to climb, swing, rappel, and get tangled in. To be a child again…  

The Dining Room is comprised of 18 vignettes and over 50 characters played by only a handful of actors. Do you find that breaking it down into sections makes it easier or harder to direct than the entire show? 
Definitely easier.  I like that we are able to really focus on these first 7 vignettes and how they relate to each other. It would be fun to direct the entire show, but with this amount of time, doing one-third of the show is perfect.

Are you approaching your section of The Dining Room as mutually exclusive from the other two pieces?
The script is written as an overlapping of different vignettes that take place in the dining room. Our section has a total of 7 scenes and each scene has its own story to tell. I am focusing on just my ‘slice’ of the show exclusively, without really taking the other two sections into consideration, other than the transitional moment when we hand off the show to the next section.

​​​Do you find anything to be particularly challenging about your “slice” of The Dining Room?
My initial challenge has been placing each scene in the appropriate time-period.  There are some scenarios that range from the depression era, to the women’s lib movement, and others that could be happening today. The juxtaposition of these situations is what makes the show that much more interesting. The challenge is to make these eras clear, without making it a show that’s all about props. We’re relying on language, movement and mannerisms to translate a lot about where we are in time.

At its core, The Dining Room is about: how something as simple as a room can mean some many different things to people in regards to memories, traditions, and the changing culture.

Tell us a story from your life that happened at a dining room table.
Some of my fondest memories in the dining room are at my grandparent’s house.  They lived on a lovely farm in New Hampshire where we’d go every Christmas.  I am the oldest of 4 cousins, and we always sat at ‘the kids table’. Due to space, I sat at the kids table until I was well out of high school… and when I finally did get the chance to sit with the rest of my family at the dining room table, as much as I enjoyed being included as a grownup, I found myself longing for my seat at the kids table.