Our Town by Thornton Wilder

Thornton Wilder presents insights in his works in ways that were, in his lifetime, unconventional and innovative. Our Town established him as an important playwright. He won the Pulitzer Prize in drama 1938, the year the play opened.

seven props in the entire play stage manager is the omniscient narrator and takes an active role in play flashes back to the past, reveals things about the future, and makes references to both within the present

Setting: Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire Themes: Universal quality/significance of life, appreciate even the smallest events in daily life, live each moment to the fullest, for tomorrow it may be gone.

Symbols:  Each act represents a different phase in life: daily life, love and marriage, and death.  Stage manager will function somewhat as the Chorus in Greek theatre throughout the play  Certain misspellings and errors in word usage are deliberate to reflect the New England dialect  Wilder often uses large numbers to expand the realm of Grover’s Corner’s: note the recurrent words “a thousand times,” a thousand days,” and “millions of gallons.”  Wilder wanted to convey passion to know what life means to us through his play.

Characters: Stage manager, Dr. Gibbs, Joe Crowell, Howie Newsome, Mrs. Gibbs, Mrs. Webb, George Gibbs, Rebecca Gibbs, Wally Webb, Emily Webb, Professor Willard, Mr. Webb, Woman in the balcony, Man in the auditorium, Lady in the box, Simon Stimson, Mrs. Soames, Constable Warren, Si Crowell, Three baseball players, Sam Craig, Joe Stoddard