PC’s Our Town Captivates Audience
As students clad in neon orange and plaid clothes walked through the halls throughout October, everyone understood what the colors represented. Preparations for Proscenium Circus’s fall play were in progress. Auditions had taken place and the cast list was set. From that point on, rehearsals were five days a week as actors and crew worked to put on a fantastic performance of Thornton Wilder’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play Our Town.
One of the show’s most crucial contributors, producer James Sheehan, worked on the play for seven months. For at least an hour a day, Sheehan worked on perfecting every aspect of the show so that when performance time came around, every detail would be just right. James also researched the background of the play and the time period, called dramaturgy, in order to make sure every aspect of the show was factually accurate.
Although the cast received most of the praise, the crew worked just as hard. From lighting to props to tickets to publicity, everything that happened behind the scenes was just as important as what happened on stage. During tech week, the entire crew learned their cues and responsibilities to run each scene smoothly. Everything needed to be carefully coordinated and worked into the show. Dress rehearsals put the costume crew to the test and ensured that everything would run smoothly for the performance. In the weeks preceding opening night, rehearsals took place from ten in the morning to six at night on the weekends. The cast and crew lived and breathed Our Town for days, and some even brought sleeping bags to try to catch a little sleep in the commons when they could.
When opening night finally arrived, the energy from those involved in the show was palpable. ”I’m thrilled that we are finally at opening night after seven months of hard work on bringing it to the stage. It’s going to be a fantastic show,” said Sheehan. The show’s director, Maureen Shea, has directed many plays at the high school in the past and has always done a wonderful job; Our Town was no different. The cast loved working with her, and Sheehan only had good things to say about her: “I thought it was a very positive experience. Maureen Shea has a wealth of knowledge from her professional theatre experience.” Not only was Our Town a great experience for PC members, but also for student photographers. During the show, outside the auditorium in East Commons, huge displays of beautiful photos captured by photography students stood for audience members to see before and after the show, as well as during intermission.
Our Town opened with huge set pieces that had reflections and colors that changed to adjust to each scene called throughout the show. The cast portrayed citizens of Grover’s Corners; each character did their part to make the story believable and intriguing to the audience. The play follows the lives of teenagers Emily Webb and George Gibbs, played by seniors Sarah Olofson and Christian Latham, respectively. Our Town depicts Emily and George’s childhood, love story, and end of their lives together. The pair did an incredible job acting out the evolution of their relationship, starting with what can only be called “awkward teen moments” in the local ice cream parlor. These moments increased in passion as they faced the challenges of pre-wedding cold feet and eventually their final moments together before death. The varying intensity and lightheartedness was reached at each point in the show, and Olofson and Latham, as well as their cast mates, did an excellent job showing the journey of the love-struck characters. Steven Robertson took on the part of the Stage Manager, narrating the play and providing background information for the audience. He mastered extended monologues and brought life to what could have been dry portions of the show by adding laughter, cleverness, and quirkiness to his role. A three-hour play, Our Town was very long. However, every moment was well acted and important to the storyline. The phenomenal acting and work of the stage crew conveyed the significant time and preparation that went into each performance.
Our Town was a wonderful and diverse show. The production ranged from humor, some lines literally cracking up the whole auditorium, to emotional scenes that left the crowd in either tears or stunned silence. Each member of the cast and crew did their part to make the show memorable, and they all achieved that goal by putting on an incredible performance.
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