= Our_Town =

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= Our_Town =
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Introduction
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'Our Town' is a three-act play written by American playwright Thornton
Wilder in 1938. Described by Edward Albee as "the greatest American
play ever written", it presents the fictional American town of
Grover's Corners between 1901 and 1913 through the everyday lives of
its citizens.

Wilder uses metatheatrical devices, setting the play in the actual
theatre where it is being performed. The main character is the stage
manager of the theatre who directly addresses the audience, brings in
guest lecturers, fields questions from the audience, and fills in
playing some of the roles. The play is performed without a set on a
mostly bare stage. With a few exceptions, the actors mime actions
without the use of props.

The first performance of 'Our Town' was at the McCarter Theatre in
Princeton, New Jersey, on January 22, 1938. It went on to success on
Broadway and received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and remains
popular today with frequent revivals.

Act I: Daily Life
===================
The Stage Manager introduces the audience to the small town of
Grover's Corners, New Hampshire, its geography and main buildings and
institutions, as well as the people living there, as morning breaks on
May 7, 1901. Joe Crowell delivers the paper to Doc Gibbs, Howie
Newsome delivers the milk, and the Webb and Gibbs households send
their children (Emily and Wally Webb, George and Rebecca Gibbs) off to
school on this beautifully simple morning.

The Stage Manager introduces Professor Willard, who speaks to the
audience about the history of the town. Next, Editor Webb speaks to
the audience about the town's socioeconomic status, political and
religious demographics, and the accessibility and proliferation (or
lack thereof) of culture and art in Grover's Corners. The Stage
Manager then leads the audience through a series of pivotal moments
throughout the afternoon and evening, revealing the characters'
relationships and challenges.

It is at this time when we are introduced to Simon Stimson, an
organist and choir director at the Congregational Church. It is
learned from Mrs. Louella Soames that Simon Stimson is an alcoholic
when she, Mrs. Gibbs, and Mrs. Webb stop on the corner after choir
practice and "gossip like a bunch of old hens," according to Doc
Gibbs, discussing Simon's alcoholism. It seems to be a well known fact
amongst everyone in town that Simon Stimson has a problem with
alcohol; all the characters speak to his issue as if they are aware of
it and his having "seen a peck of trouble," a phrase repeated by more
than one character throughout the show. While the majority of
townsfolk choose to "look the other way," including the town
policeman, Constable Warren, it is Mrs. Gibbs who takes Simon's
struggles with addiction to heart, and has a conversation with her
husband, Doc Gibbs, about Simon's drinking.

Underneath a glowing full moon, Act I ends with siblings George and
Rebecca, and Emily gazing out of their respective bedroom windows,
enjoying the smell of heliotrope in the "wonderful (or terrible)
moonlight," with the self-discovery of Emily and George liking each
other, and the realization that they are both straining to grow up in
their own way.

The audience is dismissed to the first intermission by the Stage
Manager who quips, "That's the end of Act I, folks. You can go and
smoke, now. Those that smoke."

Act II: Love and Marriage
===========================
The Stage Manager sets the scene by explaining three years have
passed, and describing the many changes that can take place when "the
sun's come up over a thousand times." The Stage Manager notes the
themes of Acts I and II - daily life, then marriage - and adds with
portent, "There's another act coming after this: I reckon you can
guess what that's about."

George and Emily prepare to wed. The day is filled with stress. Howie
Newsome is delivering milk in the pouring rain while Si Crowell,
younger brother of Joe, laments how George's baseball talents will be
squandered. George pays an impulsive and awkward visit to his
soon-to-be in-laws.

Here, the Stage Manager interrupts the scene and takes the audience
back a year, to the end of Emily and George's junior year. Emily
confronts George about his pride, and over an ice cream soda, they
discuss the future and confess their love for each other. George
decides not to go to college, as he had planned, but to work and
eventually take over his uncle's farm.

Back in the present, George and Emily say that they are not ready to
marry--George to his mother, Emily to her father--but they both calm
down and happily go through with the wedding. The Stage Manager, as
officiant of the wedding, delivers a monologue on the institution of
marriage: "people were made to live two by two" - but concludes, "I've
married over two hundred couples in my day. Do I believe in it? I
don't know."

Nonetheless, the wedding completes and George and Emily leave, ending
Act II, as Mrs. Soames exclaims, "I'm sure they'll be happy. I always
say: happiness, that's the great thing! The important thing is to be
happy."

Act III: Death and Eternity
=============================
Nine years have passed. In a lengthy monologue, the Stage Manager
discusses eternity ("we all know something is eternal"), focusing
attention on the cemetery outside of town, which dates to the 1670s,
including people who have died since the wedding - Mrs. Gibbs
(pneumonia, while traveling), Wally Webb (burst appendix, while
camping), Mrs. Soames, and Simon Stimson (suicide by hanging). The
Stage Manager posits "the dead don't stay interested in us living
people for very long . . . gradually they lose hold of the earth . . .
They're waitin'. They're waitin' for something that they feel is
comin'. Something important, and great."

Town undertaker Joe Stoddard is introduced, as is a young man named
Sam Craig who has returned to Grover's Corners for his cousin's
funeral. That cousin is revealed to be Emily, who died giving birth to
her and George's second child.

Once the funeral ends Emily emerges to join the dead and, after
observing the grief of George and Dr. Gibbs, asks Mrs. Gibbs if it is
possible to temporarily return. Mrs. Gibbs urges her to forget her
life, warning her that being able to see but not interact with her
family, all the while knowing what will happen in the future, will
cause her too much pain. Ignoring the warnings of Simon, Mrs. Soames,
and Mrs. Gibbs ("our life here is to forget all that, and think only
of what's ahead"), Emily returns to Earth to relive one day, her 12th
birthday.

She joyfully watches her parents and some of the people of her
childhood for the first time in years, but her happiness quickly turns
to pain as she realizes how little people appreciate the simple
activities of life ("It goes so fast. We don't have time to look at
one another."). The recognition proves too painful for her ("all that
was going on, and we never noticed") and she realizes that every
moment of life should be treasured.

Emily asks the Stage Manager to return her to the dead, then hesitates
and in a final monologue says goodbye to mortal life ("Oh earth,
you're too wonderful for anybody to realize you"). She asks the Stage
Manager if anyone truly understands the value of life while they live
it; he responds, "No. The saints and poets, maybe - they do some."

Emily returns to her grave next to Mrs. Gibbs and watches impassively
as George kneels weeping over her. The Stage Manager concludes the
play and wishes the audience a good night.

Primary characters
====================
* Stage Manager - A narrator, commentator, and guide through Grover's
Corners. He joins in the action of the play periodically, as the
minister at the wedding, the soda shop owner, a local townsman, etc.,
and speaks directly to Emily after her death.
* Emily Webb - One of the main characters; we follow her from a
precocious young girl through her wedding to George Gibbs and her
early death.
* George Gibbs - The other main character; the boy next door, a kind
but irresponsible teenager who matures over time and becomes a
responsible husband, father, and farmer.
* Frank Gibbs - George's father, the town Doctor.
* Julia (Hersey) Gibbs -George's mother. She dreams of going to Paris
but never does so. She sells an antique piece of furniture for $350,
intending to use it for the trip, but instead leaves the money to
George and Emily in will. Dies while visiting her daughter in Ohio.
* Charles Webb - Emily's and Wally's father, Editor of the 'Grover's
Corners Sentinel'.
* Myrtle Webb - Emily's and Wally's mother.

Secondary characters
======================
* Joe and Si Crowell - Local paperboys. Joe's intelligence earns him a
full scholarship to MIT where he graduates at the top of his class.
His promise will be cut short on the fields of France during World War
I, according to the Stage Manager. Both he and his brother Si hold
marriage in high disdain.
* Simon Stimson - The choir director and church organist. We never
learn the specific cause of his alcoholism and suicide, although Joe
Stoddard, the undertaker, observes that "He's seen a peck of
troubles." He remains bitter and cynical even beyond the grave. Some
critics interpret Simon as a closeted homosexual.
* Howie Newsome - The milkman, a fixture of Grover's Corners.
* Rebecca Gibbs - George's younger sister. Later elopes with a
traveling salesman and settles in Ohio.
* Wallace "Wally" Webb - Emily's younger brother. Died of a burst
appendix on a Boy Scout camping trip.
* Professor Willard - A rather long-winded lecturer.
* Woman in the Balcony - Attendee of Editor Webb's political and
social report - concerned with temperance.
* Belligerent Man at Back of Auditorium - Attendee of Editor Webb's
political and social report - concerned with social justice.
* Lady in a Box - Attendee of Editor Webb's political and social
report - concerned with culture and beauty.
* Mrs. Louella Soames - A gossipy townswoman and member of the choir.
* Constable Bill Warren - The policeman.
* Three Baseball Players - Who mock George at the wedding.
* Joe Stoddard - The undertaker.
* Sam Craig - A nephew of Mrs Gibbs who left town to seek his fortune.
He came back after 12 years in Buffalo for Emily's funeral.
* Man from among the Dead
* Woman from among the Dead
* Mr. Carter (Dead)
* Farmer McCarty
* Bessie - Howie Newsome's horse, visible to the characters, but not
the audience.

Composition
======================================================================
Wilder began making notes for the play while he was teaching and
lecturing in Chicago in the 1930s. Constantly on the move, he worked
on the play wherever he went. In June 1937, he stayed in the MacDowell
Colony in Peterborough, New Hampshire, one of the many locations where
he worked on the play. It is believed Wilder drafted the entire third
act during a visit to Zürich in September 1937, in one day, after a
long evening walk in the rain with a friend, author Samuel Morris
Steward.

Wilder explained his vision in writing the play:

"Our Town" is not offered as a picture of life in a New Hampshire
village or as a speculation about the condition of life after death. .
. .It is an attempt to find a value above all price for the smallest
events in our life. I have made the claim as preposterous as possible,
for I have set the village against the largest dimension of time and
place. The recurrent words in this play (few have noticed it) are
"hundreds", "thousands", and "millions".

Setting
======================================================================
The play is set in the actual theatre where the play is being
performed, but the date is always May 7, 1901. The Stage Manager of
the May 7, 1901, production introduces the play-within-the-play, which
is set in the fictional community of Grover's Corners, New Hampshire.
The Stage Manager gives the coordinates of Grover's Corners as 42°40′
North latitude and 70°37′ West longitude. (In the real world, these
coordinates are in Massachusetts waters, just over 300 meters off the
coast of Rockport.) And at the beginning of Act III, he mentions
several real New Hampshire landmarks in the vicinity: Mt. Monadnock
and the towns of Jaffrey, Jaffrey Center, Peterborough, and Dublin.

Style
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In Wilder's writing of 'Our Town', he employed a metatheatrical style.
He utilized the Stage Manager role to narrate the story and also to
appear as several different characters. The Stage Manager, as the
play's "Narrator," creates the story's point of view. The Narrator is
supernatural as he is entirely aware of his relationship with the
audience; as such it allows him freedom to break the fourth wall and
address them directly.

The play's stage direction indicates that the play is to be staged and
performed with little scenery, no set, and minimal props. Wilder's
reasoning was, "...I tried to restore significance to the small
details of life by removing the scenery. The spectator through lending
his imagination to the action restages it inside his own head. In its
healthiest ages, the theatre has always exhibited the least scenery."

Wilder commented on the sparse stage setting:

Each individual assertion to an absolute reality can only be inner,
very inner. And here the method of staging finds its justification-in
the first two acts there are at least a few chairs and tables; but
when Emily revisits the earth and the kitchen to which she descended
on her twelfth birthday, the very chairs and table are gone. Our
claim, our hope, our despair is in the mind-not in things, not in
"scenery". Moliere said that for the theater all he needed was a
platform and a passion or two. The climax of this play needs only five
square feet of boarding and the passion to know what life means to us.

The characters mime the objects with which they interact. Their
surroundings are created only with chairs, tables, staircases, and
other mundane objects. For example, the scene in which Emily helps
George with his evening homework, conversing through upstairs windows,
is often performed with the two actors standing atop separate ladders
to represent their neighboring houses.

Wilder called 'Our Town' his favorite out of all his works, but
complained that it was rarely done right, insisting that it "should be
performed without sentimentality or ponderousness--simply, dryly, and
sincerely."

Production history
======================================================================
'Our Town' was first performed at the McCarter Theater in Princeton,
New Jersey, on January 22, 1938.

It next opened at the Wilbur Theatre in Boston, on January 25, 1938.

The New York City debut of 'Our Town' was on February 4, 1938, at
Henry Miller's Theatre and later moved to the Morosco Theatre, where
it ran until November 19, 1938; this production was produced and
directed by Jed Harris. Wilder received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama
in 1938 for the work. The Jed Harris production of 'Our Town' was
revived at New York City Center on January 10, 1944, running for 24
performances until January 29, with Montgomery Clift as George, Martha
Scott as Emily, and Thomas W. Ross as Mr. Webb.

In 1946, the Soviet Union prevented a production of 'Our Town' in the
Russian sector of occupied Berlin "on the grounds that the drama is
too depressing and could inspire a German suicide wave."

Victor Carin directed a production by the Edinburgh Gateway Company in
1965.

Henry Fonda played the Stage Manager in a production that ran on
Broadway from Nov 27 to Dec 27, 1969. Elizabeth Hartman played Emily
and Harvey Evans played George. Margaret Hamilton and Ed Begley were
in the cast.

A production at New York City's Lyceum Theatre, produced by Lincoln
Center opened on December 4, 1988, after 27 previews, and ran for 136
performances until April 2, 1989; the cast included Spalding Gray as
"Stage Manager," Frances Conroy as Mrs. Gibbs, Penelope Ann Miller as
Emily, and Eric Stoltz as George. The production was videotaped for
broadcast on PBS (see "Adaptations" below).

In 2003, Paul Newman, marking his final stage performance, acted in
the role of Stage Manager, with Jayne Atkinson as Mrs. Gibbs and Jane
Curtin as Mrs. Webb, in a production staged at New York City's Booth
Theatre. It opened on December 4, 2002, after three previews and ran
until January 26, 2003. The production was videotaped for broadcast on
Showtime and later on PBS (see "Adaptations" below).

A revival of 'Our Town' opened at the Barrow Street Theatre, in New
York City, on February 26, 2009. The production was directed by David
Cromer, who also performed the role of Stage Manager for much of the
show's run. Upon closing, the production had played four preview and
644 regular performances, making it the longest-running production of
the play in its history. In addition to Cromer, other notable actors
who performed in the role of Stage Manager included Helen Hunt,
Michael McKean, Jason Butler Harner, Stephen Kunken and Michael
Shannon.

In 2017, Tony Award-winning Deaf West Theater, a Los Angeles-based
theater company, co-produced with the Pasadena Playhouse a production
of 'Our Town' performed in American Sign Language and spoken English.

A new revival directed by Kenny Leon opened on Broadway on October 10,
2024 with Jim Parsons as the Stage Manager, Zoey Deutch as Emily
Webb, Katie Holmes as Mrs. Webb, Billy Eugene Jones as Dr. Gibbs,
Ephraim Sykes as George Gibbs, Richard Thomas as Mr. Webb, Michelle
Wilson as Mrs. Gibbs, Julie Halston as Mrs. Soames, and Donald Webber
Jr. as Simon Stimpson. The production began previews on 17 September
2024 at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. This production closed on January
19, 2025.

Awards
======================================================================
* 1938 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. On May 2, 1938, Thornton Wilder won
the prize of $1,000 "for the original American play. . .which shall
represent in marked fashion the educational value and power of the
stage, preferably dealing with the American life."
* 1938 New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best American Play
(runner-up)
* 1989 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Revival of a Play
* 1989 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play

Adaptations
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* 'Our Town' was first performed on radio May 12, 1939, on 'The
Campbell Playhouse'. The cast included Orson Welles as the Stage
Manager, John Craven, of the original stage production, as George
Gibbs, and Patricia Newton as Emily Webb.
* 'Our Town' (1940 film), an adaptation starring Martha Scott as Emily
and William Holden as George Gibbs, with an original music score
composed by Aaron Copland. Four members of the original cast repeated
their roles in this film, although the ending was changed with
Wilder’s approval so that Emily lived.
* 'Our Town' (1940 radio): on May 6, 1940, a radio version was
performed by many of the same film actors for 'Lux Radio Theater'.
* 'Our Town' (1946 radio): on September 29, 1946, a radio version was
performed on the 'Theatre Guild on the Air' featuring Thornton Wilder
himself as the Stage Manager and Dorothy McGuire as Emily.
* In 1953, 'The Ford 50th Anniversary Show', broadcast live on both
the CBS and NBC television networks, featured a scene from 'Our Town',
including performances by Mary Martin and Oscar Hammerstein II. The
Ford show attracted an audience of 60 million viewers. Forty years
after the broadcast, television critic Tom Shales recalled the
broadcast as both "a landmark in television" and "a milestone in the
cultural life of the '50s."
* 'Our Town' (television), a live musical 1955 television adaptation
on 'Producers' Showcase' starring Frank Sinatra as the Stage Manager,
Paul Newman as George Gibbs, and Eva Marie Saint as Emily. The first
and only musical version of the play to be telecast. The song "Love
and Marriage" was written for this production by Jimmy van Heusen and
Sammy Cahn.
* 'Our Town', a 1977 television adaptation of the play. This
adaptation starred Hal Holbrook as the Stage Manager, Robby Benson as
George Gibbs and Glynnis O'Connor as Emily Webb, and also featured Ned
Beatty, Barbara Bel Geddes and Sada Thompson.
* 'Grover's Corners', a 1987 musical adaptation with music and lyrics
by Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt was performed at the Marriott Theatre
in Lincolnshire, Illinois.
* 'Our Town', a 1989 telecast of a Lincoln Center stage production
starring Spalding Gray, Frances Conroy, Penelope Ann Miller, and Eric
Stoltz.
* In 1994, Philip Jerry choreographed a balletic adaptation set to the
music of Aaron Copland which the American Repertory Ballet in
Princeton, New Jersey, has performed in the decades since its
premiere.
* The 1996 movie 'The Birdcage' mentions Grover’s Corners as Nathan
Lane’s character’s home town.
* 'OT: Our Town', a 2002 documentary by Scott Hamilton Kennedy about a
production of the play by Dominguez High School in Compton,
California.
* 'Our Town,' a 2003 television film adaptation starring Paul Newman
as the Stage Manager. It was shown on PBS as part of 'Masterpiece
Theatre' after first being shown on the cable channel Showtime. It was
filmed at the Booth Theatre in Manhattan, where it played on Broadway
in 2002.
* 'Our Town' (opera), an operatic version of the play with music by
Ned Rorem.
* 'Wonder' has a mention of the play, but only the beginning and end
scenes are depicted.
* The style of the play is mimicked in the 2003 Lars Von Trier film
'Dogville'.
* A performance of 'Our Town' is central to Ann Patchett's 2023 novel
'Tom Lake'.
* In Season 2 of 'The Big Door Prize', a major subplot involves a
WWE-themed production of 'Our Town'.

External links
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* [http://www.twildersociety.org/education/teaching-materials/ The
Thornton Wilder Society "Teaching Materials"]
*
[https://www.twildersociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/teachingGuide_penelopeNiven_ourTown.pdf
Exploring Thornton Wilder's "Our Town" ]
*
[https://edsitement.neh.gov/lesson-plans/dramatic-and-theatrical-aspects-thornton-wilders-our-town
Dramatic and Theatrical Aspects in Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town”]
* [http://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/OurTown.html "Our Town" -
Cummings Study Guide']
* [https://archive.org/details/Our_Town "Our Town" - 1940 Black and
White Film - at The Internet Archive]
* [http://www.twildersociety.org/works/our-town/ 'Our Town' Plot
Summary and Critical Analysis]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhnHgz-nw2Y In Our Living and Our
Dying: "Our Town" in the 21st Century - Short documentation film about
"Our Towns" Legacy]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gc1o9cGQ9_Q A Film - "Our Town"
2003 Broadway Production Paul Newman as Stage Manager]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgUGGA1-lnY A Film - How Thornton
Wilder’s Play Speaks to a Changing America and Around the World]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iwn8Fboz8nA The Lasting Impact of
"Our Town" - A segment from CBS News - Sunday Morning]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3k_EBbZdUO0 "Our Town" - 1989 PBS
Series - Great Performances]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Uv8HzULluo Shakespeare Hour
Episode 51: "Our Town" - A discussion of the staging, motifs, and
leitmotifs in the play "Our Town" - Alan Paul (Director, "Our Town"):
Howard Sherman (Author, Another Day’s Begun: Thornton Wilder’s Our
Town in the 21st Century); and Craig Wallace (played the role of Mr.
Webb in "Our Town")]
*

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=========
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