The Very Little Theatre, Eugene, Oregon
VLT 81st Season

Shakespeare in Hollywood
October 14, 2011

Lenny Bruce is Back
December 3, 2012

Lenny Bruce is Back
January 13, 2012

An Enemy of the People
March 9, 2012

Follies
April 20, 2012

Follies
May 25, 2012

Three Days of Rain
July 27, 2012

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Directed by Lloyd Brass
October 10 - October 25, 2003


"Our Town... is an attempt to find a value above all price for the smallest events in our daily life."
Thornton Wilder

When Our Town opened in New York in 1938, the audience was confronted with something the likes of which they had never seen: an actor standing on a bare stage began conversing with the audience, breaking the barrier between reality and the traditional "willing suspension of disbelief" of most plays. In place of the extravagant sets popular at the time, the audience saw two ladders. The actor, who identified himself as the Stage Manager, went on to explain which actors would play which characters. Time jumped back and forth as the audience was told of future deaths of the characters they were seeing. Most revolutionary of all, there was an understanding between the actors and the audience that the play was not real.

The first act of Our Town, titled "Daily Life," introduces the audience to Grovers
Corners, New Hampshire. The two families around whom the play is centered-the Webbs and the Gibbses-are introduced by showing us what one day (May 7, 1901) was like for these two families.

In the second act, "Love and Marriage," the Stage Manager jumps ahead three years to the wedding day of George Gibbs and Emily Webb. To explain what is going on, he first goes back to the day when Emily and George fell in love. This liberty with time reminds us we are watching a social commentary rather than a story with a linear plot. George and Emily's wedding ends the act.

If the play ended here, it would be like a fairy tale: "and they all lived happily ever after." Instead, the Stage Manager takes the audience nine years forward in time. The third act finishes the life cycle; its title, therefore, is "Death." At a new gravesite, the dead solemnly welcome Emily, who has died in childbirth. She learns she can live over again a day in her life, although the others warn her against this. Emily chooses her twelfth birthday, but soon discovers the day holds no joy because she knows what is in store. When George arrives and throws himself on Emily's grave, she feels pity for him and for all the rest of the living--she has learned how little they really understand the wonderful gift that is life itself.

Cast List

 

Production Staff

Stage Manager

Stephen Speidel

Dr. Gibbs

Mark Allen

Howie Newsome

Justin Atkins

Mrs. Gibbs

Victoria Harkovitch

Mrs. Webb

Kim Donahey

George Gibbs

Johnathan Beedle

Rebecca Gibbs

Ellie Oken

Wally Webb

Marlowe Johnson

Emily Webb

Jenny Nissel

Professor Willard

Stan Boyd

Mr. Webb

Steve Mandell

Artistic Lady

Helen Gallagher

Simon Stimson

Bob Glasser

Mrs. Soames

Christine Kuenning

Constable Warren / Joe Stoddard

Denny Guehler

Baseball Players

Bailin Speidel

Sarah Fischer

Sam Craig

Colin Gray

Angry Man /
Dead Man

Michael L. Scott

 

Director

Lloyd Brass

Assistant Director

Bill DeWein

Stage Manager

Helen Parker

Set Design

Larry Larson

Set Construction

Larry Larson
Michael Walker

Lighting & Sound Design

Marc Shapiro

Light Operators

Chuck Adams
Jessica Haverly

Sound Operators

Martha Greaney
Nick Parker

Costumer

Paula Tendick

Costume Crew

Twilo Scofield
Helen Gallagher
Nikki Atkins

Makeup and Hair

Claudia Liontos

Properties

Martha Greaney
Wayne Fernandez
Darlene Moyer

Technical Director

Marc Shapiro

Production Manager

Michael Walker

Publicity and Programs

Scott Barkhurst

Production Photography

Cliff Coles

Usher Coordinators

Suzanne Shapiro
Bill Dollemore

Opening Night Gala Coordinator

Jack Powell

Box Office Manager

Judi Johnson

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