"Our Town was the most significant drama I ever produced: it was powerful under my direction and the kids displayed genius in performing it.
Our Town was perfect for Reed City, Michigan; but it was too powerful for some: some left during performance, crying. It came too close to the bone of life in their small town. It is simple, simple, simple, tries to make us see what we should in life and death. For example, Emily asks the question stage manager from the grave: "O world, you're too beautiful. Do human beings ever realize life while they live it, every, every minute?" "Nope," he answers, "saints and poets, they do some."
People came from as far away as Saginaw and one of them asked me to come and take his job at Arthur Hill High School, as he was about to retire. Eventually, I did. But after the show, I went to New York for the first time, and learned much more about producing plays and about life."
Our Town is a three-act play written by American playwright Thornton Wilder in 1938. it presents the fictional American town of Grover's Corners between 1901 and 1913 through the everyday lives of its citizens. It features a narrator, the Stage Manager, who sits at the side of the unadorned stage and explains the action. Through flashbacks, dialogue, and direct monologues the other characters reveal themselves to the audience. The main characters are George Gibbs, a doctor’s son, and Emily Webb, daughter of a newspaper editor. The play concerns their courtship and marriage.
Described by Edward Albee as "the greatest American play ever written", It went on to success on Broadway and received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1938, and remains popular today and is considered a classic portrayal of small-town American life.
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