What is "dinner party"

n. A relatively formal meal at which invited guests eat in the home of the host

n. a party of people assembled to have dinner together; "guests should never be late to a dinner party" [syn: dinner]

Dinner Party or The Dinner Party may refer to:

• A type of party
• The Dinner Party, an installation artwork by Judy Chicago
• The Dinner Party (play), by Neil Simon
• Dinner Party (play), by Pier Vittorio Tondelli
• "Dinner Party" (The Office)
• "The Dinner Party" (Seinfeld)
• "The Dinner Party" (Dynasty)
• "Dinner Party", a The Ren & Stimpy Show episode
• Dinner Party, a short film by Lisa Cholodenko
• The Dinner Party (talk show), a live arts talk show hosted by Elysabeth Alfano
• The Dinner Party (The Vampire Diaries), an episode of the TV series The Vampire Diaries

Dinner Party is the only play written by the Italian author and novelist, Pier Vittorio Tondelli, originally in 1985 for the Riccione-Ater Theatre Prize and published by Bompiani in 1994 after Tondelli's death. The play features a series of conversations between the cast of characters, who assemble for an apparent innocent evening dinner on July 11, 1982. This date is significant in that it was the day that Italy won the World Championship ( FIFA World Cup) in Spain ( Italy beat West Germany, 3-1). However, events take an odd turn, and this innocent dinner becomes a comical, unusual drama. As the soccer match takes place, another 'game' takes place on the stage between the various characters at the Oldofredi house, which Tondelli describes as "a cruel yet entertaining game of coups de théâtre, betrayals, revelations and ambiguity."

"Dinner Party" is the thirteenth episode of the fourth season of the American comedy television series The Office—the show's sixty-sixth episode overall. Written by the writing team of Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky and directed by Paul Feig, the episode originally aired on NBC on April 10, 2008. Guest stars in the episode include Beth Grant, Steve Seagren, and Gary Weeks.

The series—presented as if it were a real documentary—depicts the everyday lives of office employees in the Scranton, Pennsylvania, branch of the fictional Dunder Mifflin Paper Company. In the episode, Michael Scott and his girlfriend Jan Levinson ( Melora Hardin), the former Vice-President of Regional Sales at the Dunder Mifflin corporate office in New York City throw a dinner party and invite Jim Halpert ( John Krasinski) and Pam Beesley ( Jenna Fischer), and Andy Bernard ( Ed Helms) and Angela Martin ( Angela Kinsey), as well as an uninvited Dwight Schrute ( Rainn Wilson). The party ends with Michael and Jan having a loud argument; Michael leaves with Dwight on the advice of two police officers who respond to a domestic disturbance call after the fight.

The episode was the first original episode of The Office to be broadcast since the episode " The Deposition" on November 15, 2007, due to the effects of the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike. As such, the atmosphere on the set was one of a more laid-back nature, and the cast broke into laughter due to the jokes many times. "Dinner Party" received largely positive reviews from critics, with many hailing it as one of the series' best entries. The episode received 4.8 Nielsen rating and was watched by 9.2 million viewers.