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  Dinner, divorce and dynamics

  Civic Theatre play features 4 friends re-examining their relationship

  Sunday, March 14, 2004

  BY ROGER LELIEVRE
  News Arts Writer

  In "Dinner With Friends," opening Thursday in an Ann Arbor Civic Theatre production, food writers Gabe and Karen are preparing the perfect evening - a tasty meal, a good bottle of wine and dinner with their longtime best friends Beth and Tom. But over dessert, Gabe and Karen get news that's difficult to digest: Beth and Tom are divorcing.

  As each side of the story comes out, tremors ripple through the quartet as they renegotiate their relationships with each other. While Beth and Tom each adjust to their separate lives, Gabe and Karen find that they must re-examine their own relationship, friendships and sense of well-being.

  Meanwhile, Donald Margulies' 2000 Pulitzer-winning play explores our obsessions with food and how couples often use food as a safe topic when life's conversations become too painful. Even though the subject matter may be serious, the show is far from dreary.

  "There's a lot of humor in it," said Director Cassie Mann. "It is serious at times, but never grim. We are working on all the light moments."

  The show concerns two couples who have been good friends for a long time.

  "Seemingly out of the blue, one couple announces they are getting a divorce: The man has fallen in love with someone else, and it's over. The play deals with how all these people deal with this event, how it affects the relationships between the couples, and the couples and their friendships.

  "That's one of the strengths of the play, the way it deals with the subject - the 'he said,' 'she said,' 'who do you believe,' 'things aren't what they seem' aspect. I think that is very true to life. I think that anyone who sees it will identify with somebody in this play. Either it's happened to their friends, or their parents or them.

  "This is one of the best scripts I have ever read ... It deals with every aspect of this so well."

  Since the script deals with food, it's not surprising that the characters will chow down during the performance. The menu comes mostly from the dialog and includes pumpkin risotto, lemon-almond polenta cake and trout.

  "We're substituting trout for the (scripted) lamb because one character has to eat a plate of food while talking, and lamb is too hard to chew. Since the set is so close to the audience, we can't fake what's being eaten," said Mann.

  "This is an actor's dream play," Mann said. "I had a lot of incredibly strong actors try out. Jon Elliott plays Gabe. He's been doing stuff with Civic for several years. Kim Perlman is playing his wife, Karen ... She's wonderful. She's from New York and just moved here about three years ago. We were very lucky to get her interested in Civic Theater. She was in 'Enter Laughing' last year.

  "Wendy Wright is a native Ann Arborite, and she's been acting ever since high school. She's terrific ... Our fourth actor is Karl Kasischke - he's more of a newcomer; he's been in maybe four or five shows. There's an aspect to his character Tom that the best way I can describe it is he's sort of a lovable cad. Karl just nailed it in the auditions."