Imagine the worst possible houseguest. They take over the house, have strange friends visit unannounced, run up a huge long distance phone bill and they're rude on top of everything else. Notre Dame Regional High School will present "The Man Who Came to Dinner" as their fall theater production and show everyone what a bad houseguest really looks and acts like.
Cindy King is the Director of Theatre Arts at Notre Dame Regional High School and she says about the play, "Well, it's a classic...Kaufman and Hart are a really good writing team and it's a comedy which is also really good. It's old but it's contemporary in its theme, I think."
The man that comes to dinner is Sheridan Whiteside who is a radio personality. He has traveled to a small town in Ohio for a speaking engagement and has dinner at one of the wealthy homes in town. He slips on the ice on their doorstep and has to stay in their home until he is healed. While living with the family, he literally takes over the entire house and its operation.
Strange guests, a delivery of a cockroach village and more makes Whiteside's stay more and more troublesome for the family. The play features old-style comedy with takes and double-takes and many physical bits. One of the characters is modeled after one of the Marx Brothers.
In the end, there is more to Whiteside than what you may think. The adult children of the home eventually start going to him for advice -- instead of their parents. "He sees them as needing freedom and their parents don't. So, he gives them an opportunity to be the people they want to be and their parents don't."
“The Man Who Came to Dinner” will be performed in the Cafetorium at Notre Dame Regional High School November 7, 8 and 9 at 7:00 p.m. Tickets are now on sale at the High School at 335-6772 – ext 311. All seats are $10.00.
