OUR TOWN
By Thornton Wilder
Directed by Behnam Alibakhshi
Nov. 15, 16, 20, 21, 22, 23 at 7:30 p.m. | Nov. 20 at 10 a.m. | Nov. 23 at 2 p.m.
The Curtain Theater
$5 students, seniors, Card to Culture, $17 general admission
“Our Town” is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French, Inc. www.concordtheatricals.com
Content advisory: alcohol use and smoking, discussions of death. Recommended for children age 12 and up
Tickets on sale through the Fine Arts Center Box Office (413-545-2511 and online), as well as at the door on the night of the show (subject to availability). To make our shows more affordable, we offer Card to Culture pricing for qualifying patrons.
Finding the profound in the everyday
UMass Theater presents Our Town, a timeless play about what’s important.
Do we appreciate the present moment as we should?
That’s the question to which director Behnam Alibakhshi returns over and over as he contemplates Thornton Wilder’s Our Town. This American classic, which runs Nov. 15-23 in the Curtain Theater at UMass Theater, conveys the profundity of ordinary human experiences, something Alibakhshi feels we need more than ever in our current moment.
“Life’s inherent brutality often prevents us from fully understanding and enjoying simple, ordinary moments,” says Alibakhshi. “The play draws attention to the fact that we don’t need more brutality; we don’t need to further complicate our lives.”
Our Town is a play in three acts that follows the journey of two main characters, Emily and George, from childhood to marriage and eventually death. Along the way, we also get to know other citizens of Grovers Corners, NH, as they encounter their own milestone moments in life. In Our Town a stage manager frames and comments on the action, and the production design is minimal, with actors miming where they might otherwise use props.
The production creates what dramaturg Pedro Eiras describs as a “timeless” effect. “While our version will be timeless, it will gesture toward the past—not any specific past, but rather an idea of the past. Time is fluid, and the circle of life is eternal. Our version of Our Town could take place 100 years ago, it could take place now, or it could take place 100 years in the future.”
Alibakhshi notes that Wilder wrote the play in 1938, a time of global upheaval between two wars — and with the conflicts happening currently around the world, we might be uniquely positioned to appreciate Wilder’s simple, immersive, and deeply resonant message.
Our Town is presented in the Curtain Theater, a intimate space, so make your reservation now before performances sell out!
