Our Town
by Thornton Wilder
Produced by Stuart Hall School, March 2011.
Cast
Stage Manager .... Lizzie Jongeward
Mrs. Myrtle Webb .... Pinki Campbell
Mr. Charles Webb .... Brad Sampson
Emily Webb .... Lauren Kim
Wally Webb .... Zoe Evans
Mrs. Julia Gibbs .... Allison Smith
Dr. Frank Gibbs .... Brett Sullivan-Santry
George Gibbs .... Stephen Hoyle
Rebecca Gibbs .... Cat Porterfield
Simon Stimson .... Mitch Conley
Joe Crowell .... Connie Zhang
Howie Newsome .... Zoe Evans
Professor Willard .... Selina Ye
Si Crowell .... Connie Zhang
Mrs. Soames .... Destinee Jackson
Constable Warren .... Kitty Gao
Sam Craig .... Evelyn Wang
Joe Stoddard .... Brooke Withers
Baseball Players .... Christina Wei, Connie Zhang, Selina Ye, Olivia Lee, Alexis Hart
1st Dead Man .... Joella Umotoni
1st Dead Woman .... Chantal Kampire
2nd Dead Man .... Christina Wei
Woman in Balcony .... Joella Umotoni
Woman in Auditorium .... Chantal Kampire
Other townspersons .... Christina Wei, Connie Zhang,
Selina Ye, Olivia Lee, Alexis Hart, Joella Umotoni, Chantal Kampire
Crew
Director .... Tony Tambasco
Associate Directors: Rachel Gabel Ratkowski and Amanda Noel Allen
Our Town was first performed at the McCarter Theatre in Princeton, NJ on 22 January 1938, and within two weeks had made its New York City debut. Thornton Wilder was part of a new wave of playwrights and theatre artists experimenting with forms of drama that are now commonplace. Wilder believed that something had gone wrong in the drama of his time, and conceived of a world where objects didn't matter; so he stripped away the scenery, costumes, and props to what he considered the bare essentials. "Our claim, our hope, our despair are in the mind - not in things," said Wilder.
An inevitable fact of producing theatre in Staunton is producing theatre in the shadow of the American Shakespeare Center, but even the ASC owes a debt to Wilder. While Bertolt Brecht, championed a new theory of Epic Theatre, Wilder created a play in a similar mode that has become a cornerstone of the American stage. Wilder's Stage Manager broke the fourth wall before anyone in this country thought of removing it, and he did so with a story so familiar, language so plain, and characters so enduring that the experimental nature of Our Town was quickly overlooked. Wilder brought his audiences a simplicity in staging that underscored the complexity of their own lives. All theatre in America is performed in the shadow of Thornton Wilder and this dramatic masterpiece.
Thank you for joining us for our production of this American classic, and whatever it might mean or have meant for the modern stage, we hope you enjoy our production of Our Town.