March 17 & 18, 7:00 PM March 18 & 19 Matinee, 2:30 PM
Our Town Comes to NCP Thornton Wilder's classic, Pulitzer Prize winning play Our Town returns to the North Crawford Playhouse stage for the first time in twenty-five years. Directed by Joseph Ferrito, the play offers a timely reflection on the importance of appreciating the life we have and the people with whom we live it.
A Play in Three Acts In the author’s words, Our Town is a play in three acts. In the first act, the Stage Manager (Nathan Zirk) outlines the history of the town, Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire, and something of the character of its citizens. He carries us into the household of Dr. & Mrs. Gibbs (Blake Zirk and Sarah Bransky) and Mr. & Mrs. Webb (Aiden Unseth, Mariah Stolpa). Substantial homes containing substantial folks. We arrive at breakfast and are carried through one day in the lives of these good people.
The second act concerns the love affair between young George Gibbs (James Carstens) and Emily Webb (Annie O’Brien), and thus culminates in a moving wedding scene, which contains all those elements of poignant sorrow and abundant happiness that make for solemnity and impressiveness. Along the way we meet a variety of ordinary townsfolk, including Professor Willard (Destiney Bugg), Howie Newsome (Mara O’Brien), Simon Stimson (Luuk Noordkamp), Constable Warren (Camden Unseth), Jo Stoddard (Lena Schmidt), Sam Craig (Gina Yonker), Si Crowell (Ingrid Carstens), and others.
In the third act we are led to the cemetery on the hill, where many of the townspeople we have come to know so well are patiently and smilingly awaiting not “judgment” but greater understanding. Into their midst is led the bride, a little timid at first, a little wishful to go back to life, to live again with her memories, but the past cannot be re-lived.
Is Our Town our town? At first glance, Our Town appears to be a simple retelling of everyday life in a small town. But as time passes through the three acts–daily life, love and marriage, and death–the play builds to a soaring reflection on humanity. It demonstrates in a gentle, plain way how difficult it is to be a human being and how important it is to “realize life while we live it – every minute.”
Everyone knows someone who is living this play in one way or another. In telling a story of everyday events that we all live through, Our Town highlights a feeling shared by nearly all adults–that life is going by too fast. There is a lovely poetic irony in student performers–human beings who don’t yet fully understand life–performing characters who don’t fully understand life. This lends truth to their characterization and contributes to thoughtful reflection in audiences.
