Our Town
The preview of Hit & Run Theatre’s production of Thornton Wilder’s Pulitzer Prize winning play, Our Town, took place on Saturday in a large studio in the Odd Fellows Hall. Our Town takes place between 1901 and 1913, ostensibly in Grover’s Corner, New Hampshire, but actually in Everytown, Everyneighborhood, Everycommunity, Everyera. Written in 1938, Wilder “broke the fourth wall” by having a character called the “Stagemanager”, narrate by speaking directly to the audience. Since there is traditionally no set, nor scenery nor props, the “Stagemanager” guides the audience from place to place, using the types of furniture one would use in a rehearsal. The events of the family of the town doctor, the Webbs, and the family of the newspaper editor, are woven into the texture of a tight-knit community as the community changes, stays the same, with young people falling in love, getting married, and dying.
Like all new theatre companies, Hit & Run had to make due with a less than perfect space. At one time an incubator of Fringe theatre in Seattle, the neighborhood, unfortunately, is gentrifying quite loudly. In the Odd Fellows Hall, there are two dance halls and a restaurant so that the spill-over noise, which was very audible, was most unfortunate and unavoidable.
What was not unavoidable was the way the director misused the available space by ignoring whether or not the audience could actually see the actors. As a good critic, I sat in the last row for Act II, to ascertain whether or not the actors could be heard. Unfortunately, the audience completely blocked the scene because the director did not stage these scenes on the elevated stage, but on the floor, on the same level of the audience’s chairs, without using risers. I am not short and I couldn’t even see the actor’s heads.
The highlight of the evening, was of course Emily Webb’s burial scene in Act III. Having died in childbirth Emily reflects on how much of life’s experiences she missed by not actually living in the moment. Charissa Adams, who played Emily was more than up to the task of touching the hearts of the audience with this superbly written, heart-wrenching scene. Since it was played on the stage, it was visible to the audience, and the simplicity of using simple white sheets to suggest shrouds was extremely effective.
On the other hand the “Stagemanager’s” performance was not particularly moving, Gordon Coffey played the role too much for laughs, with an accent which sounded affected rather than natural, and mostly he expressed contempt rather than love and respect for small-town people. Many of his lines were mumbled and difficult to understand.
The evening’s enjoyment was not enhanced by director Arne Zaslove’s long cheerleading pep-talk before the play started. The talk was an exaggerated description of his production. Paraphrasing the press release, where he called his production “re-envisioning” he stated that his production was terribly experimental (which it wasn’t) The play was probably experimental in its time, but the director could not take credit for those innovations. Also going on about how the actors were well-trained in comedia dell’arte was all very well, but except for Emily, they could have all used some vocal training. To brag about one’s production and try to persuade the audience that they were going to see a new take on the play, only drew attention to the flaws. However, with all the violent, unpleasant theatre around these days as well as the events of the last month, I’m glad that someone decided to produce this life-affirming simple yet profound play.
Our Town by Thornton Wilder. Jan 11,12, 18, 19 7:30 West Hall, Odd Fellows Bldg. 915 E. Pine, Pike/Pine, Seattle, 98122