Word: conceptions
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...concept of the play would appear to be both simple and unique, and it probably would be for any other playwright--but not for A. R. Gurney. To get some perspective on this play, look at two other Gurney plays that have been produced recently in the region, namely, The Fourth Wall and The Cocktail Hour. Including The Dining Room, the three plays have strikingly similar concepts: a certain object or tradition is chosen as the title and focal point of the play, and then the characters reveal their plot all in the context of the object...
Granted, the characters and conversation subjects do not have much in common. Sure, one could consider the structuring of the plays around an object an interesting concept, and, looking at Gurney's repertoire, one could consider this method an element of his style. But there is sometimes a fine line between creative expression and gimmick, and Gurney may have crossed that line at some point during this play...
Apart from some questions of structure, the play does have many aspects worthy of praise. The variety of scenes and characters is a novel concept, and was deftly handled by the playwright. One might fear that the numerous scenes and characters would be utter chaos on the stage with a cast of six, but Gurney's handling of the scenes lives up to the playwright's fame...
Ironically, what this ultramodern community seeks to re-create is the small- town America of ages ago. "We are people who are looking for some kind of community again," says resident Stephen Zunes, a political scientist. The concept shows signs of catching on. Two other CoHousing villages have been built in California, two more are under construction, and 100 others are in the talking stages. "By the end of the century, every major U.S. city will have a co-housing group," declares Charles Durrett, the California architect who, with his wife, coined the term...
...interracial or bisexual, divided by divorce, multiplied by remarriage, expanded by new birth technologies -- or perhaps all of the above. Single parents and working moms will become increasingly the norm, as will out-of- wedlock babies, though there will surely be a more modern term for them. "The concept of the illegitimate child will vanish because the concept of the patriarchal nuclear family will vanish," says Leslie Wolfe, executive director of the Center for Women Policy Studies...