By The University Player’s version of “Our Town” on its opening night Friday gives a glimpse of the simplicity found in love and the difficulty of finding your own life path through the lives of an introverted boy and a forthright girl.
Director Trevor Biship wanted to modernize Thornton Wilder’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play.
“Our production is imagining this 1938 play for a contemporary audience by setting it in 2009,” Biship said. “In making the specific choice of seeing how Wilder’s language, characters and conflicts resonate with a contemporary America, I hope that all audience members will be affected in a new way by the seminal American play.”
As Biship intended, the audience is almost part of Grover’s Corners since the play takes place literally less than 10 feet away from the theatre seats.
When the play opens, song erupts from cast members sitting among the audience. After they stop singing, they help the audience acclimate with the whereabouts on stage, such as the grocery store, home and the park. One of the characters literally points out which corners of the stage represent the main elements of the small town of Grover’s Corners.
There are no props in the play either. The performers presented the scenery clearly through good improv skills. For example, audience members would know that the setting is the kitchen when Emily’s mom holds a pretend bowl and acts as though she is stirring imaginary batter.
The play reflects common experiences that young people go through, such as seeking the first kiss, fighting with parents for more independence, searching for self-identity, getting married and finding a life path.
The majority of the play follows the evolution of the love relationship between George Gibbs and Emily Webb, a teenage couple in love.
The two make for an unusual couple. George’s painful self-consciousness is apparent as he hesitantly puts his arm around the girl. Emily is easy-going with a smile on her face, while still being outspoken. The audience can easily sense George’s shyness around Emily when he awkwardly tries to kiss her and hold her hand on their first date at the park.
Overall, the play follows and embodies Emily’s dreams of being in love, as her presence lights up the room.
But at the end, a tragedy is waiting to happen.
“Our Town” runs until Oct. 24. Performances are Tuesday through Saturday at 8 p.m. and on Saturday at 2 p.m. For tickets, call 562-985-5526 or click here
