Private Project

The Dinner Party

In Gilded Age America, struggling mill owners Edward and Lucinda Felson attempt to woo a local banker with an elegant dinner party. But when your guests include a firebrand suffragist, a wide-eyed progressive, a die-hard elitist, and an out-of-work, clueless cowboy, things are bound to get complicated.

When the mill workers try an outrageous - and dangerous - scheme to save their jobs, it'll require all of the Felsons' cunning and guile – and a good deal of help from their clever, ambitious new butler – to keep their heads above water.

  • Killarney Traynor
    Director
    Micheal Lawrence: A Season of Darkness, Chance
  • Killarney Traynor
    Writer
    Micheal Lawrence: a Season of Darkness
  • Killarney Traynor
    Producer
    Michael Lawrence: A Season of Darkness, Chance
  • Terry Traynor
    Producer
  • Pierre Rumpf
    Producer
    A Blood Throne
  • Ken Neenan
    Key Cast
    "Edward Felson"
    Chance
  • Terry Traynor
    Key Cast
    "O'Neil"
    Chance
  • Pierre Rumpf
    Key Cast
    "Captain Oliver Schilling"
    A Blood Throne
  • Autumn Allen
    Key Cast
    "Lucinda Felson"
  • Aurora Grabill
    Key Cast
    "Hannah Brown"
    Space People
  • Margaret Traynor
    Key Cast
    "Maggie O'Brian"
    Chance, Michael Lawrence: A Season of Darkness
  • Kate Eppers
    Key Cast
    "Dahlia Felson"
  • Chris Estes
    Key Cast
    "Henry Pinkham"
    Chance, Paragods
  • Ana Packard
    Key Cast
    "Elvira Pinkham"
  • Rene Bergeron
    Key Cast
    "Irene Waring"
    Namaste
  • Dan Dovidio
    Key Cast
    "Bill Felson"
    Chance, Michael Lawrence: A Season of Darkness
  • Ted Sterner
    Key Cast
    "Major Applegate"
  • Reuben Traynor
    Key Cast
    "Roger Pinkham"
    Chance, Tex Magru, Michael Lawrence: A Season of Darkness
  • Ian McFarlin
    Key Cast
    "Foreman Gorman"
    Chance, Tex Magru
  • Project Type:
    Feature
  • Genres:
    Historical, Comedy, Period Piece
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 30 minutes
  • Production Budget:
    3,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:8
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Killarney Traynor

Killarney Traynor is an author, screen-writer, and director. She has written and produced several films with Narrow Street Films, including Michael Lawrence: the Season of Darkness. Her weaknesses include British murder mysteries, old books (the longer, the better), and classic Hollywood movies.

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Director Statement

"Unseen in the background, Fate was quietly slipping lead into the boxing-glove." - PG Wodehouse

Welcome to the Gilded Age, where the dresses are long, the ideas are big, and the corruption is... well, about as rampant as any other time. I love this era: I grew up reading Jules Verne and watching musicals that were mostly set in this period. "The Dinner Party" is the result of that early love and is based on a simple idea: in an age of strikes, walkouts, and progressive revolutions, how embarrassing would it be if you were the only mill owner who hadn't had a strike?

From this idea (which, I think, is a rather Mel Brookian line of thought), came other realizations. The United States has always been a country in debate, beginning from our colonial origins up until the political situation today. We argue passionately for what we believe in and where we think the country ought to go. "The Dinner Party" is a story about this conversation and how conflict can arise even when all the debaters enter with the best of intentions.

While researching the time period in preparation for this film, I was really struck by how familiar a lot of the debates in 1906 were. We still wrangle over how to help the "have-nots" while respecting rights of the "haves", about who should be in charge and how much power they should have, even immigration and who should be welcomed. These questions have haunted the human race from time immemorial and dog us still as circumstances shift and change.

But "The Dinner Party" is far from a somber view of a crushing reality. It's a comedy of manners which recognizes that all debaters are, at the end of the day, merely people: flawed, funny, and very, very human. We wanted to address some questions - like what it means to be a human who cares and what true strength look like - while paying homage to some of our favorite classic styles of comedy, like PG Wodehouse, Oscar Wilde, and Neil Simon. Most importantly, we wanted to remember that, at the end of the debate, when the true struggles begin, the people you have at your table are the very people you can and should rely on. Humanity - Americans especially - may argue and debate constantly, but we are all in this together.