Few plays possess the enduring, trans-generational quality exemplified by Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town,” which is currently being performed by the Ville’s own community theater, the Players’ Club of Swarthmore (PCS). The play, directed by renowned Philadelphia theater veteran Ellen Wilson Dilks, opened on September 16 and will have more performances through the end of this weekend.
As Dilks writes in her director’s note, “This beautifully simple play was written to be performed without scenery, without props — even without period costumes if the director chooses.”
She elaborated in an interview with Stage Magazine that this minimalist style was rare in the era that the play was written, and the audience interaction which runs rampant in the script was practically unheard of.
The PCS production wasn’t as minimalist as other productions of “Our Town” have been. A few chairs and tables, as well as simple backdrop, graced the stage for the production. However, all props were absent, and characters completely mimed the actions of opening doors and handling milk jugs. This lack of physical materials, while distracting at first, served its purpose in the long run as the play educated its viewers about the beauty of the little things in our short lives.
Set just after the turn of the twentieth century, “Our Town” follows the fates of two families in Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire. Young Emily Webb (played by Bailey Lynn Shaw), a girl with scholarly ambitions who can’t seem to focus on the present, falls in love with George Gibbs (played by Richard Deaver, Jr.), the boy from across the street whose own plans do not extend beyond the town lines of Grover’s Corners.
Narrating the play is the Stage Manager (played by John Harvey), who continually reminds the audience that they are watching a play about a small town that is just like any other town. He follows the life of Emily Webb from her grade-school years to her marriage to George and the throes of her death.
Harvey and Shaw are polar opposites on the stage. Harvey, host of the popular Philadelphia radio show, “Harvey in the Morning,” brings the Stage Manager to life as an omniscient, fatherly narrator who stays above the fray of normal people and their human weaknesses. Shaw is spellbinding as the naïve Emily, maintaining the generic yet timeless persona of an eager schoolgirl all too ready to face the world through the twelve years that the play spans. Her last monologue about the simple beauty of the Earth and all its people transports us to another dimension entirely, leaving the audience with a tear in the eye and a desire to live life to the fullest.
In her interview with “Stage Magazine,” Dilks noted that the play shows the audience “how we so easily fail to appreciate the simple things.”
She also explained that the play, while set in rural New Hampshire at the turn of the century, is timeless. “We’ve consciously chosen not to use New England accents to show the universality of the story,” she said, elaborating that the year the play was written — 1938 — was sandwiched between the Great Depression and World War II, a dark era for the world. “Wilder’s story … offered comfort and hope,” she said. “It seems highly appropriate to revisit Grover’s Corners at this point in our history, in the climate we face today.”
“Our Town” will run for three more performances — tonight, tomorrow and Saturday at 8 p.m. Tickets are $8 for students and $15 for general admission. They may be purchased online at www. pcstheater.org.
