Classic Our Town Closes DePauw Theatre's Season

April 3, 2008

April 3, 2008, Greencastle, Ind. - DePauw Theatre will be concluding its 2007-08 season with Thornton Wilder's Pulitzer Prize-winning drama, Our Town. The production will be staged in the Green Center for Performing Arts' Moore Theatre. Evening performances are April 10, 11, 12 at 7:30 p.m. A matinee will be offered Sunday, April 13, at 2:30 p.m.

Written in 1938, Our Town concerns the small New England village of Grover's Corners. The lives and everyday experiences of two families, the Webbs and the Gibbs, are followed and scrutinized by the omnipresent narrator known only as the Stage Manager. Universal issues such as everyday life, love, and death are covered in the span of three acts. 

Immensely popular since it opening, the production has been revived three times on Broadway. The Stage Manager has always been a coveted part with actors and has been played by such diverse talents as Henry Fonda, Marc Connelly, Hal Holbrook, Sinclair Lewis, and Spalding Gray. The play has been filmed several times, the most popular version being the 1940 production with Craven reprising his Broadway premiere role as the Stage Manager and William Holden debuting as George Gibbs. Paul Newman, who played George in a 1955 film, went on to play the Stage Manager in the most recent professional revival of the play in 2002. The play is also notable as being the inspiration behind several musical compositions, ranging from Aaron Copland's 1940 film score to Frank Sinatra's standard "Love and Marriage," taken from a television musical adaptation in which Sinatra played the role of the Stage Manager.

Besides its universal appeal, an additional reason for the play's status as "one of the most produced in the American canon" is the perception that it is easy to stage. Due to Wilder's desire to steer modern theatre back to the more simple traditions of Greek, Shakespearean and Kabuki theatre, the setting of the show is sparse; the play's opening stage direction is "No curtain. No scenery." In reality, the production serves as a unique challenge as it also requires the miming of all properties. To acquire the necessary skills, DePauw students worked with Indianapolis-based mime artist Deborah Langerman, founder of the United Mime Workers Company.

In spite of a tendency to produce Our Town as a sentimental work of nostalgia, director Gigi Jennewein Fenlon, instructor of communication and theatre, is approaching the piece as an examination of lives fraught with uncertainty. "I chose this play for its ability to get at the heart of what makes us human," Fenlon says. "The play is about humanity's struggle between stability and risk; between what we out to do vs. what we want to do; between the known and the unknown. In the end, we discover it is about the eternal human search for love, purpose and fulfillment. The reason it has been successful since its premiere is not because it is about who we were, but who we are."

Nineteen students from majors across the University comprise the cast, which includes seniors Tim Fox (Dr. Gibbs), Christine Dougan (Mrs. Webb), Brittany Brumfield, Mark Holwager, and Nicole Samsel. The production team is also composed entirely of students, with the exception of assistant director Steven Linville, a 2006 graduate of DePauw and assistant to the dean of the School of Music.

"It is an evocative piece," says Fox, who also serves as the production's dramaturg, "and no where is this more apparent than in the inspiration it has affected in the cast and crew."

Two special events will accompany the production. On Friday, April 11, DePauw Theatre and DePauw's fraternities will join forces to present a philanthropic event "Our Town Evening." Immediately following the performance of Our Town, patrons are invited to head outside to enjoy "Live on the Lawn" presented by the DePauw fraternities. The music will include performances by Trevor Hall, as well as local band TGL, and David McMillin, a 2006 DePauw graduate who is currently touring with Shelby Lynne. Half-price tickets to the April 11 performance are available to members of the Greencastle community.

On Monday, April 14, the play will be performed for the seventh and eighth grade classes of Greencastle Middle School.

Tickets for the production are $3 for students and $6 for adults, and available for purchase at the Judson and Joyce Green Center for the Performing Arts' box office. Reservations and information may be obtained at (765) 658-4827 or greencenter@depauw.edu.

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