Our Town August 20, 2010

Fullerton, CA—STAGEStheatre is proud to present an American classic, Our Town, by Thorton Wilder and directed by Joe Parrish. Our Town is the intricately woven tale of two families and small town life in New Hampshire. Wilder's play communicates what is universal and vital to all of us. As Wilder says "It is an attempt to find a value above all price for the smallest events in our daily life." While the play is set in the early part of the 20th century its poignant theme is particularly striking today. It is time to take a new look at this classic American play.
The Pulitzer Prize winning play was written in 1938 while America was experiencing the aftershocks of the Great Depression and living under the impending shadow of World War II. Although uncertain times and fear characterized the time period, Wilder focuses the play on the facets of the human experience which testify to the strength and endurance of the human spirit.
Our Town has been described as an idealized representation of a lost America. There couldn’t be a play that more appropriately reflects “traditional family values” than Our Town. In the homogenous community of Grover’s Corners, certain aspects of complex modern life are unmistakably absent. In Grover’s Corners there are no people of color, no homosexuals, no Jews, no drugs; the biggest problem in town is the town drunk whom, as Mrs. Gibbs recommends, should simply be ignored. In this play, the children—who wouldn’t dream of sassing their parents—marry straight out of high school, mothers stay at home tending to the family’s needs and fathers bring home the bacon and help enforce discipline in the home. This play is about America—or perhaps we should say—an America.
Director, Joe Parrish says, “Although the cultural context of the post war America has certainly changed; we’ve grown far away from Grover’s Corners and 1938 America. Our relationship to this play is anything but simple—and requires that we explore notions of nation, society, family and community. It doesn’t fit into a nice neat package—clearly delineated and simple to understand—just like America.”
Our Town stars: Jason Paul Evans, Annalise Winkle, Mary Lehn-Mooney, Jason Sutton, Tracy Marquis, SP Callaway, Paige Hiskey, Vanessa Babida, Darren Williams, Adam Poynter, Amanda DeMaio, Jonathan Castanien, Michael Skinner, Ashley Vine Ecker, William Murphey, Cathryn Collopy O’Donnell, Sara La Franboise, and Joe Parrish.

Tickets for Our Town are $18.00/ $15.00 for students and seniors and can be purchased on our website at www.stagesoc.org. Show times are Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m. and Sundays at 2:00 p.m.

Official Website: http://www.stagesoc.org