Our Town is, was, and always will be one of my favorite plays ever. Part of that is because I was in it in high school. But a bigger part of it is that it is an innovative (still) work of theater that gets at big human issues of life and death.
Yes, it is pretty white/east-coast/homey/whatever you want to call it. But so are many other great plays written in the past. To me, it has always been a very dark and brooding play, not a chipper-sweet one. It's about miscommunication, the inability for adults to connect with young people, and the brevity of existence (or the eternity of it).
I really want to go see this production after this review. Thanks for making it personal, Sean.
It isn't necessarily white or east-coast. Check out the documentary "OT: Our Town," which chronicles an inner-city L.A. high school production. The play is truly universal.
As extraordinary and personal an homage to a play and a production as one is likely to ever read. Or write. Deeply moving and persuasive. Thank you, Sean. This is truly wonderful journalism.
Yes, it is pretty white/east-coast/homey/whatever you want to call it. But so are many other great plays written in the past. To me, it has always been a very dark and brooding play, not a chipper-sweet one. It's about miscommunication, the inability for adults to connect with young people, and the brevity of existence (or the eternity of it).
I really want to go see this production after this review. Thanks for making it personal, Sean.
--Todd J. Moore