.
Wilder previously wrote The Bridge of San Luis Rey, his second novel, published in 1927 to worldwide acclaim. The plot is deceptively simple: On July 20, 1714, 'the finest bridge in all Peru' collapses and five people die. Brother Juniper, a Franciscan missionary, happens to witness the tragedy, and as a result, he asks the central question of the novel: 'Why did this happen to those five?' He sets out to explore the lives of the five victims, and to understand why they died. Ironically, his quest will lead to his own death. In later years, when someone asked Thornton Wilder about his purpose in writing THE BRIDGE, he replied that he was posing a question: 'Is there a direction and meaning in lives beyond the individual's own will?'
Mr. Wilder also wrote The Merchant of Yonkers (it's worth reading the how Mr. Wilder wrote the story), which became a short-lived play on Broadway (39 performances), and eventually was re-worked and re-written as The Matchmaker, a comedy filled with mistaken identities, secret rendezvous obscured by screens and hidden behind doors, separated lovers, exciting twists and turns, and a light, bantering tone, a farce that looks like a wild, chaotic romp, however Wilder built The Matchmaker on firm, grounded foundcaton and, despite appearances, Wilder had the farce under control. In 1964, Jerry Herman and Michael Stewart adapted The Matchmaker into the 1964 Broadway success Hello, Dolly!, a more streamlined version of what Mr. Wilder wrote. The stage play starred Carol Channing, among others, and the play was later made into the movie of the same name, starring Barbra Streisand.
As a play, Our Town is one of the most frequently staged American plays. It is an unconventional work in that it has no scenery or props except for tables, chairs, ladders, and a few other objects. When actors dine, they hold imaginary utensils and eat imaginary food. When looking out an upper-story window, they stand on ladders. When the milkman makes deliveries from his horse-drawn cart, there is no horse or cart, although the audience may hear clip-clops or whinnies. And so goes the entire play. Mr. Wilder presented the play in this way to force the audience to concentrate on the characters and the themes.
Wilder also wrote a narrator into the play. Called “the stage manager,” who supervises the placement of the chairs and tables at the beginning of the play–hence, his title. He also introduces the play and its setting, looking back from his 1930's vantage point to the year when the drama begins, 1901. From time to time, he interrupts the play to comment on the action or to inform the audience about a character’s background. Early on, he even speaks with members of the audience.
It's not giving away anything to say the following, because if you're familiar with the play or movie, you already know it, and if you're not, this doesn't take away anything from the great acting/great role for actors and actresses.
The action takes place in the fictional town of Grover's Corners, New Hampshire, just north of the Massachusetts line, between 1901 and 1913 . (However, one of the central characters–the stage manager–exists in the 1930's. While describing the town and its characters and commenting on the action, he flashes back and forth between the early part of the 20th Century and the 1930's.) Grover's Corners serves as a microcosm; it is the world condensed into a small community with characters reflecting the hopes and dreams, the failures and successes, of people everywhere.
Peterborough as Model
Peterborough, N.H., may have been the model for Grover's Corners, a conclusion reached by some townspeople after Thornton Wilder wrote Our Town there while he was in residence at the MacDowell Colony, a famous retreat for several hundred composers, writers, and painters. Pianist Marian Nevins MacDowell and her husband, composer Edward Alexander MacDowell, founded the colony in 1907 at Peterborough, located in southern New Hampshire about 15 miles north of the Massachusetts border.
The climax of Our Town occurs when the deceased Emily returns to life briefly in the final act to visit Grover's Corners. Her experience is bittersweet, making her realize the importance of simple, ordinary events that make up the patterns of life.
Regarding the themes of the play (and, subseaquently, the movie):
Theme 1: People should appreciate life while they are living it. Even ordinary, uneventful activities are important. Indeed, they might be the most important activities of all–whether they involve smelling flowers, eating breakfast, chatting with the milkman or the paperboy, or looking out the window at the moon.
Theme 2: Carpe diem (seize the day). This Latin phrase, which has become part of the English language, urges people to live for the moment, seizing opportunities to enjoy or enrich their lives. Life is short, after all; such opportunities may present themselves only once. This is an old literary motif, written about many times over the centuries. The Roman poet Horace (65-8 B.C.) coined the phrase carpe diem in Book 1 of his famous odes, when he advised people to “seize the day, put no trust in tomorrow!” English poet Robert Herrick (1591-1674) repeated the sentiment in a memorable poem:
Gather ye rosebuds while ye may
Old time is still a-flying,
And this same flower that smiles today
Tomorrow will be dying.
In Our Town, Wilder reminds the audience again and again that time is “a-flying” with references to passing trains–which, like life, move swiftly forward–and with references to the generations of Grover’s Corners residents who have come and gone. The flowers in the gardens of Mrs. Gibbs and Mrs. Webb are still another reminder: Smell and appreciate them now, for they will not last long. So is Professor Willard’s boring speech about the geological and anthropological developments in the vicinity of Grover's Corners thousands of years ago. The wheel of history and its life cycles spins rapidly. However, 'seizing the day' does not necessarily mean that people need to pursue lofty enterprises or careers or to run off to see the world. George Gibbs seizes the day by choosing to marry Emily rather than going to agricultural school. Mrs. Gibbs seizes the day by accepting the simple life of Grover's Corners rather than insisting that her husband go on vacation with her to the city of her dreams, Paris.
Theme 3: Little things in life are really big things. This theme points out that seemingly insignificant happenings in everyday life are actually among the most important ones. However, people experiencing them usually do not comprehend this truth at the time, as Emily observes in the cemetery when she says to Mrs. Gibbs, “They don’t understand, do they?
Theme 4: No town can isolate itself from the rest of the world. Grover's Corners is a pleasant, easygoing community that seems to be a separate world unto itself. But it is not. Rather, it spins on the same axis as the rest of the world and is subject to the same influences affecting outsiders. Its residents read Shakespeare and The New York Times. Trains going to Boston pass through regularly. And there comes a time when Ford cars replace horses and people begin to lock their doors, just like their big-city counterparts. Joe Crowell Jr., dies in World War I. English poet John Donne wrote in 1624:
No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main..any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
Grover's Corners is not an island. And when
he bell tolls for Emily at the end of the play, it tolls for everyone.
Theme 5: No community is perfect, not even idyllic Grover's Corners. Grover's Corners has its town drunk, Simon Stimson, whom Mrs. Soames says is a 'scandal.' Believing life is not worth living, he commits suicide. Grover's Corners also apparently has a form of segregation, for there is a 'ghetto,' Polish town, where Polish-American Catholics live.
Why the play is popular (leading to the movie and the movie's popularity) is interesting.
Our Town is a favorite at many playhouses mainly because its setting and characters are so much like ordinary towns around the United States–and the rest of the world. Also, it has the one ingredient necessary for a literary work to become great: universality. Its themes apply to everyone everywhere. In addition, its simple mise-en-scène–a nearly bare stage with only a few props and no backdrops–makes it easy to produce. The absence of scenery also underscores the universal themes, inasmuch as there are no representations of structures or landscapes associated with specific locales. Grover’s Corners could be anywhere.
Bottom line: See it. See the movie, see the play (and see the play repeatedly; every stage presentation is different and many are much better than others). Read the book. It will be time well spent.
Jeff (XMinusOne@gmail.com)
| Our Town | |
|---|---|
1938 first edition cover from the Library of Congress Rare Book and Special Collections Division | |
| Written by | Thornton Wilder |
| Characters | Stage Manager Mrs. Myrtle Webb Mr. Charles Webb Emily Webb Joe Crowell Jr. Mrs. Julia Gibbs Dr. Frank F. Gibbs Simon Stimson Mrs. Soames George Gibbs Howie Newsome Rebecca Gibbs Wally Webb Professor Willard Woman in the Balcony Man in the Auditorium Lady in the Box Constable Warren Si Crowell Three Baseball Players Sam Craig Joe Stoddard |
| Date premiered | January 22, 1938 |
| Place premiered | McCarter Theatre Princeton, New Jersey |
| Original language | English |
| Subject | Life and death in an American small town |
| Genre | Drama |
| Setting | 1901 to 1913. Grover's Corners, New Hampshire near Massachusetts. |
Our Town by Thornton Wilder Page 1 The first performance of this play took place at the McCarter Theatre, Princeton, New Jersey, on January 22, 1938. THORNTON WILDER.Our Town is a 1938 three-act play by American playwright Thornton Wilder. Joes intelligence earns him a full scholarship to MIT where he graduates at the top of his class. Joes intelligence earns him a full scholarship to MIT where he graduates at the top of his class.
Our Town is a 1938 metatheatricalthree-act play by American playwrightThornton Wilder. It tells the story of the fictional American small town of Grover's Corners between 1901 and 1913 through the everyday lives of its citizens.
Throughout, 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.
Our Town was first performed at McCarter Theatre in Princeton, New Jersey in 1938.[1]Sd.gundam.g.generation.f.if rar. It later went on to success on Broadway and won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It remains popular today and revivals are frequent.
- A TEACHER’S GUIDE TO THORNTON WILDER’S OUR TOWN 4 CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.10 Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences. Consider the stage directions for Act One.
- Our Town by Thornton Wilder. How do you think that era differs from our own? Based on the evidence that Thornton Wilder supplies in the play.
- 1Synopsis
Synopsis[edit]
Act I: Daily Life[edit]
The Stage Manager introduces the audience to the small town of Grover's Corners, New Hampshire, and the people living there as a morning begins in the year 1901. Professor Willard speaks to the audience about the history of the town. 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 are the Webbs, George is the Gibbs) off to school on this beautifully simple morning.
Act II: Love and Marriage[edit]
Three years have passed, and 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 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 they 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. 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.
Act III: Death and Eternity[edit]
Nine years have passed. The Stage Manager opens the act with a lengthy monologue emphasizing eternity, bringing the audience's attention to the cemetery outside of town and the characters who have died since the wedding, including Mrs. Gibbs (pneumonia, while traveling), Wally Webb (burst appendix, while camping), Mrs. Soames, and Simon Stimson (suicide by hanging). 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 Emily, who died giving birth to her and George's second child. Once the funeral ends, Emily emerges to join the dead; 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, but she refuses. Ignoring the warnings of Simon, Mrs. Soames, and Mrs. Gibbs, Emily returns to Earth to relive one day, her 12th birthday. Emily watches with joy at being able to see her parents and some of the people of her childhood for the first time in years. However, her joy quickly turns to pain as she realizes how little people appreciate the simple joys of life. The memory proves too painful for her, and she realizes that every moment of life should be treasured. When 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.
Characters[edit]
- 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 doesn't get there. She saved $350 for the trip from the sale of an antique furniture piece but willed it to George and Emily. Dies while visiting her daughter in Ohio.
- Charles Webb – Emily's father, Editor of the Grover's Corners Sentinel
- Myrtle Webb – Emily 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.
- 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. Dies 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[edit]
Wilder wrote the play while in his 30s. In June 1937, he lived 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.[2]
Our Town Pdf Script Wilder
Setting[edit]
The play is set in the actual theatre where the play is being performed, but the year is always 1938. The Stage Manager of the 1938 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 (those coordinates are actually in Massachusetts, about a thousand feet off the coast of Rockport).
Style[edit]
Wilder was dissatisfied with the theatre of his time: 'I felt that something had gone wrong..I began to feel that the theatre was not only inadequate, it was evasive.'[3] His response was to use a metatheatrical style. Our Town's narrator, the Stage Manager, is completely aware of his relationship with the audience, leaving him free to break the fourth wall and address them directly. According to the script, the play is to be performed with little scenery, no set and minimal props. The characters mime the objects with which they interact. Their surroundings are created only with chairs, tables, staircases, and ladders. For example, the scene in which Emily helps George with his evening homework, conversing through upstairs windows, is performed with the two actors standing atop separate ladders to represent their neighboring houses. Wilder once said: 'Our claim, our hope, our despair are in the mind—not in things, not in 'scenery.' '[4]
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.'[citation needed]
Production history[edit]
Our Town was first performed at McCarter Theater in Princeton, New Jersey on January 22, 1938.
It next opened at the Wilbur Theatre in Boston, Massachusetts 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.[5] Wilder received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1938 for the work.[6] The Jed Harris production of Our Town was revived at New York City Center on January 10, 1944, running for 24 performances until January 29th, with Montgomery Clift as George and Martha Scott as Emily.[7]
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'.[8]
Our Town Wilder Pdf
A production at New York City's Lincoln Center opened on December 4, 1988 after 27 previews and ran for 136 performances until April 2, 1989; the case included Spalding Gray as 'Stage Manager', Frances Conroy as 'Mrs. Gibbs', Penelope Ann Miller as 'Emily' and Eric Stoltz as 'George'.[9] The production was videotaped for broadcast on PBS (see 'Adaptations' below).
In 2003, Paul Newman starred as 'The 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 that opened on December 4, 2002 after three previews and ran until January 26, 2003;[10] this production was videotaped for broadcast on Showtime and later on PBS (see 'Adaptations' below).
An award-winning 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.[11]
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.[12]
Awards[edit]
- 1938 Pulitzer Prize for Drama
- 1989 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Revival
- 1989 Tony Award for Best Revival
Adaptations[edit]
- 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), adaptation starring Martha Scott as Emily and William Holden as George Gibbs, with an original music score composed by Aaron Copland. Many members of the original cast repeated their roles in this film, although the ending was changed 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.
- 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.
- Our Town,[13] a 1977 television adaptation of the play, starring Hal Holbrook as the Stage Manager, Robby Benson as George Gibbs and Glynnis O'Connor as Emily Webb.
- Grover's Corners, a 1987 musical adaptation performed at the Marriott Theatre.
- Our Town,[14] a 1989 telecast of a Lincoln Center stage production starring Spalding Gray, Frances Conroy, Penelope Ann Miller, and Eric Stoltz
- 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.[citation needed][15]
- Our Town (opera), an operatic version of the play with music by Ned Rorem
- In 1994, Philip Jerry choreographed a balletic adaptation set to the music of Aaron Copland and has been performed by the American Repertory Ballet in Princeton, New Jersey in the decades since its premiere.[16]
References[edit]
- ^'Our Town: A History'. pbs.org. Retrieved February 21, 2015.
- ^Steward, Samuel; Gertrude Stein; Alice B. Toklas (1977). Dear Sammy: Letters from Gertrude Stein & Alice B. Toklas. Houghton Mifflin. p. 32. ISBN0-395-25340-3.
- ^Wilder, Thornton. Thornton Wilder, Collected Plays and Writings on Theater. Preface.
- ^Lumley, Frederick (1967). New Trends in 20th Century Drama: A Survey since Ibsen and Shaw. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 333. OCLC330001.
- ^'Our Town'. Internet Broadway Database. Retrieved 2008-07-10.
- ^The Pulitzer Board (1938). 'Pulitzer Prize Winners of 1938'. The Pulitzer Prizes. Retrieved 2008-07-10.
- ^https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/our-town-470682
- ^'Play 'Our Town' is Banned in Soviet Berlin Sector', Christian Science Monitor, Feb 13, 1946, p. 13.
- ^https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/our-town-4525#People
- ^https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/our-town-13438
- ^'Our Town'. Playbill.com. Archived from the original on 2010-09-18. Retrieved 2010-12-12.Cite uses deprecated parameter
deadurl=(help) - ^'Our Town'. pasadenaplayhouse.org.
- ^(tsalagicelt) (30 May 1977). 'Our Town (TV Movie 1977)'. IMDb.
- ^W. Jones. ''Great Performances' Our Town (TV Episode 1989)'. IMDb.
- ^'Paul Newman'. Television Academy. Retrieved October 21, 2015.
- ^'Our Town'. americanrepertoryballet.org.
Further reading[edit]
- Wilder, Thornton (1938). Our Town: A Play in Three Acts. New York: Coward McCann, Inc. pp. 128 pp. OCLC773139.
External links[edit]
| Wikimedia Commons has media related to Our Town. |
- Our Town at the Internet Broadway Database
- Our Town Teaching and Reading Educational Materials; by The Thornton Wilder Society
- Our Town 1940 film; free download at archive.org
- Our Town Plot Summary and Critical Analysis; by The Thornton Wilder Society
- Documentary Video on the legacy of Our Town; by The Thornton Wilder Society