Clifton Dinner Theater Premieres Thursday

The annual production by the Clifton Dinner Theater premieres Thursday evening with more performances set through Saturday.

The play "Maid for Dogs" features a Clifton-inspired plot with many of the cast and crew gleaned from the local area.

for the production.

“We looked at a lot of plays and they either didn’t have the right number of characters, or they were way too complicated or way to simple,” said Dianne Janczewski, one of two playwrights and the show's producer. “At that point, we just figured we should write it.”

Janczewski and co-writer/director Charlotte Yakovleff worked on the first-ever Clifton Dinner Theater production last year. That performance, of Lee Mueller's "I'm Getting Murdered in the Morning,” .

To accommodate the audience, this year the show “Maid for Dogs” will run on three days, Thursday, Friday and Saturday at Clifton’s town meeting hall.

“The audience are guests at a party for a prominent Clifton family,” Yakovleff said. “There is a lot of slapstick comedy—except when something goes wrong. At that point the audience will decipher clues and follow along.”

It took Janczewski and Yakovleff about eight weeks to write the play. The production has an 11-person cast, most of whom are Clifton residents.

Cast member Max Snyder, 15, has acted in school plays before and jumped at the chance to get involved in community theater. He has worked hard to get into character.

“My character is sophisticated and snotty,” said Snyder, who attends Paul VI Catholic High School in Fairfax. “My character is very different from me, so it’s difficult, but fun.”

Actors rehearsed about eight hours a week—a big time commitment for the all-volunteer group.

James Manchester works a full-time job and juggles his role in the play. He has been involved in choir performances before, but this is his first time in the Clifton play.

“It’s been a learning experience,” Manchester said. “It eats up a lot of time but it’s been very pleasurable.”

“You don’t want to miss anything from the beginning to the end,” Yakovleff  said. 

The play takes place Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 12641 Chapel Road in Clifton. Appetizers will be served starting at 7 p.m. and performances begin at 8 p.m.

Tickets can be purchased at , , The Clifton Wine Shop and Tasting Room, and . Tickets are $30 on Thursday and $35 on Friday and Saturday.

For more information contact cliftontheater@gmail.com.