September 14th, 2009
Our Town is New York
Thornton Wilder’s classic play Our Town is continuing its run at the Off Broadway venue Barrow Street Theatre, also known as Greenwich House Theatre. This intimate, and really, what else would work for this play, production opened in late February of this year and is scheduled for an open run. Many people are familiar with the quaint collection of characters from Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire and there is almost a collective feeling of coming home with the audiences who are in attendance. Of course, there are also those who have never seen, read or even heard of this theatre classic, and they are sure to be charmed and touched as the stories unfold. Guests staying in a New York cheap hotel are frequently choosing the economy of accommodations, so they may spend the bulk of their money on great shows, fine dining and maybe even shop shopping.
Our Town is a three act play, which is particularly uncommon to today’s stage. Most theatres and theatre goers prefer the clean and trim two act version, which is the most common structure of scripts found on the contemporary stage. The play is set within the context of a play and is narrated by the Stage Manger. This metatheatrical structure has been used in various theatrical genres and commonly associated with William Shakespeare. Two popular examples are found in Hamlet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Our Town uses this device to tell the history of the fictitious town in which it is set, as well as the life stories of the characters it contains. It takes place in the early 20 century between the years 1901 and 1913. It’s first New York production opened in February of 1938 at the Henry Miller’s Theatre. It won Wilder the Pulitzer Prize for drama. Its premiere production occurred in Princeton, New Jersey at the McCarter Theatre.
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