PLAYERS CONTINUE ‘OUR TOWN’
Friday, in the Owen Theatre,THE CRIGHTON PLAYERS opened a finely drawn version of classic “Our Town,” Thornton Wilder’s Pulitzer-winning masterpiece. It is totally absorbing, with a superior cast of the Players’ finest, that included the technical staff as well.
“When you have GRACE THOMPSON directing, TRAVIS BRYANT on lights, JIM TATUM doing sound, BETTY NELSON as stage manager and this exceptional crew, how could it not be a great show?”
said W. RYAN WILLINGHAM, who creates the demanding role of Stage Manager in the drama.
It was surprising how many audience members had never read this play in school. Probably it’s just as well, since a certain maturity is required to master all the profound thoughts in those simple words; although W. has his own ideas about that, too.
“It’s interesting for kids to play the parts of their parents, sometimes to get an adult perspective,” W. observed.
Theater goers need to know that this is the story of a calm New England town at the turn on the 20th century. By today’s standards, life would be unbearably dull. The residents go about their mundane lives with little thought about the significance of every minute and every hour. It is the Stage Manager’s job to relay that message; and he does, with an unwavering finality.
There is little humor, just a rare chuckle; no songs except at a funeral or maybe a wedding, no dancing, just a sense of fleeting time that the characters don’t fathom. Not much movement on stage either, except that the Stage Manager sometimes wanders a bit.
There isn’t even any set to speak of–just a few chairs, a table or two, and a little platform at the rear of the stage. This is as Wilder envisioned: “a bare stage, no curtain.” The Stage Manager (Willingham) sets this up in the first scene and after that, little repositioning is required. In Act III, simple straight chairs serve as graves from which the dead occasionally speak, an action that recedes with time. As the Stage Manager comments concerning the graveyard, “When they first come here, they care what’s going on out there, but it fades away, and they gradually lose interest.”
Conroe High School senior TAYLOR WINBERRY plays Emily. Her heartbreakingly young profile adds to the sorrow of a life cut short. TERRY LYNN HALE and 539th District Judge KATHY HAMILTON
depict mothers whose families totally fill their worlds. Nimble actor DALE TRIMBLE, who went easily from portraying a countrified sheriff-cum-taxi-driver in the last Players’ production of comedy “Exit the Body,” displays his versatility in this role as editor of the town newspaper. Owen Theatre newcomer NEIL DON LENHART, with credits from Philadelphia and Atlantic City, portrays Dr. Gibbs convincingly and with empathy, and PATRICK NEFF takes a good turn as his son who loses Emily, the love of his life. CAROL HANEY and KRISTI NICHOLSON create realistic townspeople, especially in the wedding and graveyard scenes.
There are traces of the metaphysical–the omniscient Stage Manager possesses other unexplained powers as he moves the action back and forth at will. In his cozy, casual chattiness he constantly reminds viewers of darker realities that await the characters. He reveals the paperboy’s great promise–how he’s going to win a scholarship and graduate first in his class, “But the war broke out, and he died in France. All that education for nothing.”
Near the end of Act III Willingham comes off stage to floor level and delivers some challenging philosophical words:
“Some things we all know, but we don’t take them out and look at them very often. Something is eternal; but it ain’t houses, ain’t names, ain’t earth, and it ain’t the stars. Something is eternal, and that something has to do with human beings. Five thousand years; and you’d be surprised how many people let go of that.”
See “Our Town” at 8 tonight and Saturday, or 2 p.m. Sunday, and be prepared to come away stunned at the quality of this production as well as the simplicity of Wilder’s profound message. Call (936) 539-4090 to reserve. It runs through March 28 with two Sunday matinees. I’m seeing it again Saturday, with our son Michael.
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