Dinner With Friends

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Dinner With Friends" is a 2000 Pulitzer Prize winning play witten by Donald Margulies. It premiered at the 1998 Humana Festival of New American Plays and opened Off-Broadway in New York on November 4, 1999. ^[1]

1 Plot summary
2 Original Off-Broadway cast
3 Awards and nominations
4 Film adaptation
5 External links
6 References

[edit] Plot summary

Gabe and Karen, a happily married middle-aged couple, have been friends with Tom and Beth, another married couple, for many years. In fact, it was Gabe and Karen who fixed up their friends in the first place. While having dinner at Gabe and Karen's home one night, Beth tearfully reveals that she is getting a divorce from Tom, who has been unfaithful.

Tom, who had been away on business, finds out that Beth has told their friends about the looming divorce, and hastens to Gabe and Karen's home. Tom and Beth had planned to tell their friends about their breakup together, but Tom now believes that Beth has unfairly presented herself as the wronged party, and feels he must present his own side of the story.

Over the course of the play, we see both couples at different ages and stages of their lives, and we witness the effects of Tom and Beth's breakup on Gabe and Karen, who first feel compelled to choose sides, and then begin to question the strength of their own seemingly tranquil marriage.

[edit] Original Off-Broadway cast

Gabe: Matthew Arkin
Karen: Lisa Emery
Beth: Julie White
Tom: Kevin Kilner

[edit] Awards and nominations

Aside from winning the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the play also received the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Off-Broadway Play, the Dramatists Guild/Hull-Warriner Award, the Outer Critics Circle Award, the American Theatre Critics Association New Play Award, and a Drama Desk Award nomination.

[edit] Film adaptation

It has been suggested that this section be split into a new article entitled Dinner with Friends (TV movie). (Discuss)

The play was adapted into a 2001 TV movie starring Dennis Quaid as Gabe, Andie MacDowell as Karen, Greg Kinnear as Tom, and Toni Collette as Beth. It was nominated for two Emmys, including Outstanding Made for Television Movie. ^[2]