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Our Town
Our Town was first produced and published in 1938 to wide acclaim. This Pulitzer Prize-winning drama of life in the small village of Grover's Corners, an allegorical representation of all life, has become a classic. It is Thornton Wilder's most renowned and most frequently performed play.
181 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1938
About the author
Thornton Wilder
161 books420 followersThornton Niven Wilder was an American playwright and novelist. He received three Pulitzer Prizes, one for his novel The Bridge of San Luis Rey and two for his plays Our Town and The Skin of Our Teeth, and a National Book Award for his novel The Eighth Day.
For more see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thornton...
For more see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thornton...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 2,343 reviews
October 4, 2022
“Does anybody realize what life is while they're living it -- every, every minute?”
― Thornton Wilder, Our Town
It's been years perhaps a decade or more since I last read OUR TOWN. I'd forgotten how beautiful it is. It is easy to see why this is one of the heavy hitters of the American Theatre. Our Town has been called "Wilder's hymn to ordinary lives," and so it is. 81 years later this powerful piece of theatre has lost none of it's charm.
In OUR TOWN, Wilder expertly explores the beauty and sorrow of human life. Wilder blends meditations on the ever evolving course of human existence with a heartfelt picture of life in small-town America.
The first act unfolds, depicting 24 hours in the life of this average American town as we slowly see the characters reveal their souls to us. Wilder expertly blends comic vignettes that artfully show us the love, compassion and understanding that these characters are built upon.
In Act II, Wilder explores “Love and Marriage.” Once more, the audience is transported back to events in George and Emily’s life; this time their wedding day. We hear various characters’ opinions about marriage, which compels them to make their own judgment and promotes the idea that while marriage may be another part of daily life, “each marriage is different from all the others, and no definition could satisfy everybody."
The third act takes place nine years later in the summer of 1913. The Stage Manager explains how things have slowly changed in that time, such as fewer horses on Main Street and people locking their doors at night. He walks into the cemetery and points out the gravestone of Mrs. Gibbs, Mrs. Soames, and Mr. Stimson. Emily's younger brother have all died. The Stage Manager explains how the dead don't stay interested in the living for very long. They become weaned away from life on earth. Soon we find out that Emily is about to join the dead. After revisiting her life Emily sadly realizes life goes so quickly, and people don't realize it. She wonders if humans ever realize the meaning of life while they actually live it. It is here we witness the most tragic event in Our Town, George's collapsing in front of Emily’s headstone, mourning his loss ~~ their loss.
And in the end? OUR TOWN serves up much more than a pleasant, greeting-card picture of old New England. Wilder’s soul-stirring play is one that illuminates both the nobility and the pain in the fleetingness of human life.
― Thornton Wilder, Our Town
It's been years perhaps a decade or more since I last read OUR TOWN. I'd forgotten how beautiful it is. It is easy to see why this is one of the heavy hitters of the American Theatre. Our Town has been called "Wilder's hymn to ordinary lives," and so it is. 81 years later this powerful piece of theatre has lost none of it's charm.
In OUR TOWN, Wilder expertly explores the beauty and sorrow of human life. Wilder blends meditations on the ever evolving course of human existence with a heartfelt picture of life in small-town America.
The first act unfolds, depicting 24 hours in the life of this average American town as we slowly see the characters reveal their souls to us. Wilder expertly blends comic vignettes that artfully show us the love, compassion and understanding that these characters are built upon.
In Act II, Wilder explores “Love and Marriage.” Once more, the audience is transported back to events in George and Emily’s life; this time their wedding day. We hear various characters’ opinions about marriage, which compels them to make their own judgment and promotes the idea that while marriage may be another part of daily life, “each marriage is different from all the others, and no definition could satisfy everybody."
The third act takes place nine years later in the summer of 1913. The Stage Manager explains how things have slowly changed in that time, such as fewer horses on Main Street and people locking their doors at night. He walks into the cemetery and points out the gravestone of Mrs. Gibbs, Mrs. Soames, and Mr. Stimson. Emily's younger brother have all died. The Stage Manager explains how the dead don't stay interested in the living for very long. They become weaned away from life on earth. Soon we find out that Emily is about to join the dead. After revisiting her life Emily sadly realizes life goes so quickly, and people don't realize it. She wonders if humans ever realize the meaning of life while they actually live it. It is here we witness the most tragic event in Our Town, George's collapsing in front of Emily’s headstone, mourning his loss ~~ their loss.
And in the end? OUR TOWN serves up much more than a pleasant, greeting-card picture of old New England. Wilder’s soul-stirring play is one that illuminates both the nobility and the pain in the fleetingness of human life.
January 11, 2017
*Read for class*
I enjoyed this WAY more than I thought I would. I expected it to just be boring Americana which is totally not my thing but the last act just totally blew me away. It was profound and thoughtful and terrifyingly accurate, but very well done.
I enjoyed this WAY more than I thought I would. I expected it to just be boring Americana which is totally not my thing but the last act just totally blew me away. It was profound and thoughtful and terrifyingly accurate, but very well done.
January 4, 2020
"So all that was going on and we never noticed...Oh, earth,you are too wonderful for anybody to realize you. Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it--every,every minute?”To answer poor dead Emily's question: I know I don't. Especially not today. Not on this Fourth of July.
Most Independence Days I think about hot dogs, potato salad, Souza, and fireworks. And maybe--for a brief moment—about life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
This year, though, I am thinking about everything we have lost. Little towns like "Our Town," eaten up by urban sprawl or abandoned to the ghosts of the plains. Our sense of a common purpose. Our civility. Our truthfulness. Our faith in our justice system to bring about justice. Our belief that science and government can make things better. Our openness to the strangers among us--especially the children of strangers. Our friendships with people who are different—or who believe different things—from ourselves. And even our ability to agree about what flags should be honored and how our national holidays should be celebrated.
The only hope I have is that, by being honest with ourselves, by spending a few moments this Fourth of July reflecting on all America has lost, we may perhaps realize--now, this minute--how wonderful our life on earth—in our America, in our town—really is.
September 24, 2023
Another writer* once wrote "There is in the mere act of living when it's shared at the lowest level something that can keep people going and make them feel their value, which, boring as it is, is what we want to feel - without stepping on the gas and running people down." That is this play. Here's my letter to the playwright.
Dear Thornton,
I thought you'd bore me. Now, I know your trick. Tease me with slow, light touches. Space them out. Make me beg for something, anything, to happen. Then, it does.
You master of control, making me wait. You give in to none of my wishes. You ignore my protests "That's not the way! Drama needs conflict. Plays need drama. That's the way it's done. Not this day to day stuff. Breakfast, lunch, and supper. Rouse my interest. Give me something special. Grab me from the start. You deviant!"
What felt like an eternity was not on the clock. It's etched on my heart all the same. I'm yours for life now. You made me yawn, then cry out loud.
Forever in admiration,
Georgia
*The excerpt is form L. P Hartley's A Perfect Woman.
Dear Thornton,
I thought you'd bore me. Now, I know your trick. Tease me with slow, light touches. Space them out. Make me beg for something, anything, to happen. Then, it does.
You master of control, making me wait. You give in to none of my wishes. You ignore my protests "That's not the way! Drama needs conflict. Plays need drama. That's the way it's done. Not this day to day stuff. Breakfast, lunch, and supper. Rouse my interest. Give me something special. Grab me from the start. You deviant!"
What felt like an eternity was not on the clock. It's etched on my heart all the same. I'm yours for life now. You made me yawn, then cry out loud.
Forever in admiration,
Georgia
*The excerpt is form L. P Hartley's A Perfect Woman.
September 5, 2007
American playwriting at its best. I think the most stunning thing is that this book manages to convey a deep sense of human tragedy without portraying people who rabidly abuse each other. This is also why many hack directors (not to mention high schools) have been able to produce the work as a saccharine fairytale, and the bad reputation of this play can certainly be attributed to these careless people. But you, my dear critical thinker--you should read this.
January 31, 2019
DON'T READ THE FORWARD UNTIL AFTER YOU'VE READ THE STORY.
"Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it? ---every, every minute?"
First published in 1938, OUR TOWN is a play by Thornton Wilder that delivers a hauntingly REAL look at life....and death....and love.
ACT I begins on May 7, 1901 in the small town of Grover's Corners, New Hampshire. It is a nice town with a nice mix of people. Some are gossips, some have addictions and others have little disagreements and problems like most of the world as they go about their...dare I say...monotonous daily activities.
At first I thought this play was a simple look at everyday life without much substance....and thought it a bit strange as I had never read a play where a stage manager narrates.
ACT II jumps to 1904 with yet more ordinary days of breakfast making, milk and newspaper deliveries, children off to school and men off to work. We see young love in the making and attend a wedding. We hear questions like, " Do you think it's going to rain again?" Sound boring?.......well,
ACT III....knocked my socks off. Nine years have gone by and now it's 1913. So much has occurred....as you will see.
OUR TOWN is a "deadly cynical acidly accurate play."
OUR TOWN prompted me to add a new shelf today....'re-read-annually'....and although there are many favorite books I can add, OUR TOWN is the story that made me think to add it.
OUR TOWN is Haunting, Thought Provoking and Memorable....with a wonderful touch of Supernatural.
(Even if you don't like plays, you may want to check this one out. It won't take long to read and worst case, will add another + to your 2019 totals.) RECOMMEND!
June 17, 2019
Thornton Wilder’s iconic depiction of life in an American small town circa 1920. Act One is centered around the mundane, everyday occurrences of life...getting breakfast with the family, doing homework, milk deliveries, newspaper boys tossing the daily read onto the doorstep. Act Two marks an important cornerstone of small town life--a wedding. And, Act Three brings all this living into focus in a poignant way.
What makes reading this all the more moving, is that the way of life described has almost vanished entirely from our world. I remember morning milk deliveries, but my younger sister, separated from me by only six years, would not. Along with the point Wilder is making about appreciating the life you have, he made an unintentional one about appreciating the “kind” of life you have.
Deceptively simple; enduringly rich.
What makes reading this all the more moving, is that the way of life described has almost vanished entirely from our world. I remember morning milk deliveries, but my younger sister, separated from me by only six years, would not. Along with the point Wilder is making about appreciating the life you have, he made an unintentional one about appreciating the “kind” of life you have.
Deceptively simple; enduringly rich.
September 14, 2023
quickly picking up this play i had no interest or intention of reading ever in my life because it is apparently required for understanding tom lake
February 5, 2016
I appreciate this play more and more every time I read it, and I have read it quite a bit! It has been written that Thornton Wilder found "the cosmic in the commonplace" in "Our Town", and that is indeed the case. This play is a celebration of the everyday and mundane details of human existence. And although we like to imagine that our lives are composed of things larger than the everyday exercise of living, we are wrong. There are exciting and "big" moments in most lives, but that is the rarer action. Most of the time we are going about our little sphere doing much the same thing, with the same people; and Mr. Wilder wrote a play that reminds us that this is not at all a bad thing.
The three acts of this play are structured in a manner that allows them to encompass the most salient features of human life: everyday living, love/marriage, and of course death. Much attention is usually paid to the third act of "Our Town" because it is here Wilder is at his most sentimental and also where he makes his point most obviously. And I don't say that to detract from the play. The third act is brilliant, and gets to me every time. However, the first two acts are subtle worlds of genius that yield even greater rewards as one goes back and rereads them at later intervals in life.
Many critics have charged the play with being "sentimental" and I think it is, and I don't think this is a negative attribute at all. We should be sentimental about the things we love, and what a sad existence one has if they don't love life. The real punch from this piece though is not from its sentimentality, but rather from the fact that we realize that we don't do what Wilder is urging us to do, even though we know we should. Late in the play, the recently deceased Emily says "We don't have time to look at one another." If that was true in 1937, imagine how much more true it is now! And we know what she says is true, and we want to amend it, and for the most part...we don't. There is no greater tragedy then knowing the correct way to do something, and then finding that we don't do it. "Our Town" painfully reminds us of this fact of life.
This play is worth reading, then reading again, and after another interval, reading again. Unlike many works of drama, it is a satisfying reading experience, regardless of whether or not you see it as a performed play.
As one character says, "I can't look at everything hard enough". "Our Town" does its best to get us to look at the things around us, and to appreciate them. It is a lesson worth returning to over and over again in life.
The three acts of this play are structured in a manner that allows them to encompass the most salient features of human life: everyday living, love/marriage, and of course death. Much attention is usually paid to the third act of "Our Town" because it is here Wilder is at his most sentimental and also where he makes his point most obviously. And I don't say that to detract from the play. The third act is brilliant, and gets to me every time. However, the first two acts are subtle worlds of genius that yield even greater rewards as one goes back and rereads them at later intervals in life.
Many critics have charged the play with being "sentimental" and I think it is, and I don't think this is a negative attribute at all. We should be sentimental about the things we love, and what a sad existence one has if they don't love life. The real punch from this piece though is not from its sentimentality, but rather from the fact that we realize that we don't do what Wilder is urging us to do, even though we know we should. Late in the play, the recently deceased Emily says "We don't have time to look at one another." If that was true in 1937, imagine how much more true it is now! And we know what she says is true, and we want to amend it, and for the most part...we don't. There is no greater tragedy then knowing the correct way to do something, and then finding that we don't do it. "Our Town" painfully reminds us of this fact of life.
This play is worth reading, then reading again, and after another interval, reading again. Unlike many works of drama, it is a satisfying reading experience, regardless of whether or not you see it as a performed play.
As one character says, "I can't look at everything hard enough". "Our Town" does its best to get us to look at the things around us, and to appreciate them. It is a lesson worth returning to over and over again in life.
November 5, 2014
Winner of the 1938 Pulitzer Prize for drama.
Occasionally a book comes along that makes me say, now this is why I read. Thornton Wilder was perfect when he wrote this and the result was perfection. "Our Town" struck every chord just right for me. I grew up near a small town on a farm and I recognized this town, and I recognized these people. Through the first two acts of this play I was loving it and thinking, this is the Americana that is fast disappearing, maybe already has. Then act 3 knocked me flat. I admit, I shed a tear. What happened was unexpected, and the message that Wilder presented made me stop and think. It caused me to reflect on my life and the people in it.
I don't give many five star ratings, but this book is special, at least for me.
Occasionally a book comes along that makes me say, now this is why I read. Thornton Wilder was perfect when he wrote this and the result was perfection. "Our Town" struck every chord just right for me. I grew up near a small town on a farm and I recognized this town, and I recognized these people. Through the first two acts of this play I was loving it and thinking, this is the Americana that is fast disappearing, maybe already has. Then act 3 knocked me flat. I admit, I shed a tear. What happened was unexpected, and the message that Wilder presented made me stop and think. It caused me to reflect on my life and the people in it.
I don't give many five star ratings, but this book is special, at least for me.
July 12, 2010
Okay, first of all – because people will criticize me for it, and rightly so – I have not seen this play. I fully appreciate that plays are written in order to be viewed on stage, not on page, and that people who judge a play after merely reading it are probably the bane of a playwright's life. That said, I feel that if there's any play that's could be "seen" just as well in the mind of the reader, it's Our Town.. From the setting to the plot to the characters' actions, the entire thing is almost austerely minimalistic, in a way that doesn't require strenuous use of the imagination. Which I did enjoy about this reading/mental viewing experience, since I felt guilty about not having seen it.
Another thing I liked in this play is the continual communication with the audience. The Stage Manager is, I guess, some metaphorical stand-in for an angel, able to appear among us without our recognizing it, to play different roles among us (i.e. the Mr. Morgan and the minister), and able to deliver a transcendental tones for the humans keen enough to hear him. That type of narrator must have been innovative for the play's time, and I like what Wilder did with that.
The most impassioned response I could stir up at the ending, however, was a raised eyebrow. I feel Wilder started off with an intriguing set-up, and proceeded to careen downhill. He did exactly what any self-respecting reader was predicting he'd do. Yes, I should keep in mind that it was first produced and published in 1938. In context, I suppose the qualities of this play mean a lot more than they do today. But as to one critic's claim that he has "transmuted the simple events of human life into universal reverie," I simply fail to grasp any genuine artistic profundity here. He's trying, he really is; you can tell in many places. But I just don't think he pulls it off. Example: the ending references to the stars. "My boy Joel was a sailor, - knew 'em al. He'd set on the porch by evenings an' tell 'em all by name. Yes, sir - wonderful!" "A star's mighty good company." "Yes, yes 'tis." Sorry, but am I the only one who sees something that's trying to be Profound, and achieves only a scrabbling Pathetic?
I appreciate that he's trying to show how life is art, or should be seen as art. The "live-every-moment-as-though-it-were-your-last" sort of message is obvious enough, and it's not lost on me; many of my favourite-ever works of literature, vis. art and theatre share the same "point." And in its overwhelming (or rather underwhelming) simplicity, the entire play in every aspect is a challenge to the viewer to remember that the simple moments deserve our full attention. At the same time, even with a killer cast, I have a hard time picturing this play as something to stay in the mind for more than an hour afterwards. I would like to watch it someday. Still, there's plenty that make me appreciate life-as-art a heck of a lot more than this American classic has done.
Another thing I liked in this play is the continual communication with the audience. The Stage Manager is, I guess, some metaphorical stand-in for an angel, able to appear among us without our recognizing it, to play different roles among us (i.e. the Mr. Morgan and the minister), and able to deliver a transcendental tones for the humans keen enough to hear him. That type of narrator must have been innovative for the play's time, and I like what Wilder did with that.
The most impassioned response I could stir up at the ending, however, was a raised eyebrow. I feel Wilder started off with an intriguing set-up, and proceeded to careen downhill. He did exactly what any self-respecting reader was predicting he'd do. Yes, I should keep in mind that it was first produced and published in 1938. In context, I suppose the qualities of this play mean a lot more than they do today. But as to one critic's claim that he has "transmuted the simple events of human life into universal reverie," I simply fail to grasp any genuine artistic profundity here. He's trying, he really is; you can tell in many places. But I just don't think he pulls it off. Example: the ending references to the stars. "My boy Joel was a sailor, - knew 'em al. He'd set on the porch by evenings an' tell 'em all by name. Yes, sir - wonderful!" "A star's mighty good company." "Yes, yes 'tis." Sorry, but am I the only one who sees something that's trying to be Profound, and achieves only a scrabbling Pathetic?
I appreciate that he's trying to show how life is art, or should be seen as art. The "live-every-moment-as-though-it-were-your-last" sort of message is obvious enough, and it's not lost on me; many of my favourite-ever works of literature, vis. art and theatre share the same "point." And in its overwhelming (or rather underwhelming) simplicity, the entire play in every aspect is a challenge to the viewer to remember that the simple moments deserve our full attention. At the same time, even with a killer cast, I have a hard time picturing this play as something to stay in the mind for more than an hour afterwards. I would like to watch it someday. Still, there's plenty that make me appreciate life-as-art a heck of a lot more than this American classic has done.
November 19, 2011
Goodbye, Grover’s Corners
I saw a really terrible movie this weekend called "Stardust". I thought that it would be terrific since the cast is star-studded and mostly because it was based on a novel by the very clever Neil Gaiman (who I am a big fan of, Sandman, American Gods, Good Omens & the "Brakiri Day of the Dead" episode of Babylon 5 for fans in the know). But alas, the movie sucked (although Deniro was funny. Yarg!!).
But the movie also stars Claire Daines who I used to be a big fan of in the series My So Called Life. And then I got to remembering that the finale of that show was one of the best ever simply because it was not really meant to be the finale. But, that's how life is. The series ended with a telling of Thornton Wilder's play, Our Town. That the series ended like this just stunned me. It went like this if you care to know.
Katimski : Oh, you can remember it like this: If you keep going downstage, you're going to fall _down_. Okay? Oh, oh, oh,and...could you........... stop acting? Please?
Rayanne : What?
Katimski : Stop acting. There's really no need for it. You see, Emily is dead. The life she had is over. That's a pretty
big deal. I mean...oh, gee whiz, she is just now
realizing how precious every moment of that life really
was. And that she never really appreciated what she had.
Just imagine...what that must feel like, Rayanne.
[pause.:]
Rayanne : [sadly:] I can't go on, it goes so fast, we don't have time to look at one another. I didn't realize. So all
that was going on, and...we never noticed. Take me back.
Back to the hill, to my grave. But first, wait! One last
look. Goodbye. Goodbye, world. Goodbye, Grover's Corners.
Momma and Poppa. Goodbye to clocks ticking. Do any human
beings ever realize life while they live it? Every every minute?
Abyssinia : No. Saints and poets, maybe they do so.
Rayanne : I'm ready to go back.
Angela : [crying, chin trembling:] Were you happy?
Rayanne : [sadly:] No. I should have listened to you. But that's all human beings are. Just blind people.
[Rayanne turns and walks away. Angela turns the other way and exits:]
I remember seeing this play in high school and not thinking very much of it. I guess I was just too young to understand. But seeing this one axis-shifting scene, the climax of the play delivered in it's most seemingly natural context, that of a high school drama production, really made me change my mind. For some reason, after seeing Claire Daines in that movie, I was thinking over and over about that "Our Town" scene and lamenting that someone writing for television didn't have the wit or the where-with-all to try something so simple and wonderful like that again. But, was it the storyline of the series that made that one scene feel even more impacting, or did the scene from Wilder's play bring classic relevance to a silly teen-drama? Ah-ha.
I went to the bookstore that night and I bought a copy of the play. In the introduction that very feeling is addressed, how many young people are introduced to this play when they are deficient in experience and short on attention. People tend to lump it into a Kapra or Rockwell kind of kitsch. At least, I fell into that trap.
But now, reading it again closer to 40 makes me understand what a wonderful work of art that play really is. The introduction calls it a "great American play, perhaps THE great American play." And then the writer of the introduction goes on to explain how he experienced the play back in 1988 or '89 with Spalding Gray as the omniscient Stage Manager. Wow.
Wow. Just wow!!
After you've been blessed with a little perspective (read also age and experience), every single meaning in the play that went right over your head at 17 hits you right between the eyes AND STICKS...like the banana in Swimming to Cambodia. So, while I read the play I imagined Gray in that role and let Thornton Wilder take me to Grover's Corners for the mundane drama that is everyday life, for the metaphors that still resound today.
And I loved it.
I loved every character.
Even the school teacher (didn't see that one coming, did you Dan?).
I loved everything they did and everything they said.
That a character can come in, be given all the aspirations and talents in the world then be destroyed by a few words from the Stage Manager dumbfounds me. How terrible, how casual, how like real life.
Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it?
No. The saints and poets, maybe. They do some.
At the end of the Brakiri Day of the Dead episode written by Neil Gaiman, Mr. Morden says, "One does not go to the dead for wisdom".
It seems that Thornton Wilder would disagree.
I saw a really terrible movie this weekend called "Stardust". I thought that it would be terrific since the cast is star-studded and mostly because it was based on a novel by the very clever Neil Gaiman (who I am a big fan of, Sandman, American Gods, Good Omens & the "Brakiri Day of the Dead" episode of Babylon 5 for fans in the know). But alas, the movie sucked (although Deniro was funny. Yarg!!).
But the movie also stars Claire Daines who I used to be a big fan of in the series My So Called Life. And then I got to remembering that the finale of that show was one of the best ever simply because it was not really meant to be the finale. But, that's how life is. The series ended with a telling of Thornton Wilder's play, Our Town. That the series ended like this just stunned me. It went like this if you care to know.
Katimski : Oh, you can remember it like this: If you keep going downstage, you're going to fall _down_. Okay? Oh, oh, oh,and...could you........... stop acting? Please?
Rayanne : What?
Katimski : Stop acting. There's really no need for it. You see, Emily is dead. The life she had is over. That's a pretty
big deal. I mean...oh, gee whiz, she is just now
realizing how precious every moment of that life really
was. And that she never really appreciated what she had.
Just imagine...what that must feel like, Rayanne.
[pause.:]
Rayanne : [sadly:] I can't go on, it goes so fast, we don't have time to look at one another. I didn't realize. So all
that was going on, and...we never noticed. Take me back.
Back to the hill, to my grave. But first, wait! One last
look. Goodbye. Goodbye, world. Goodbye, Grover's Corners.
Momma and Poppa. Goodbye to clocks ticking. Do any human
beings ever realize life while they live it? Every every minute?
Abyssinia : No. Saints and poets, maybe they do so.
Rayanne : I'm ready to go back.
Angela : [crying, chin trembling:] Were you happy?
Rayanne : [sadly:] No. I should have listened to you. But that's all human beings are. Just blind people.
[Rayanne turns and walks away. Angela turns the other way and exits:]
I remember seeing this play in high school and not thinking very much of it. I guess I was just too young to understand. But seeing this one axis-shifting scene, the climax of the play delivered in it's most seemingly natural context, that of a high school drama production, really made me change my mind. For some reason, after seeing Claire Daines in that movie, I was thinking over and over about that "Our Town" scene and lamenting that someone writing for television didn't have the wit or the where-with-all to try something so simple and wonderful like that again. But, was it the storyline of the series that made that one scene feel even more impacting, or did the scene from Wilder's play bring classic relevance to a silly teen-drama? Ah-ha.
I went to the bookstore that night and I bought a copy of the play. In the introduction that very feeling is addressed, how many young people are introduced to this play when they are deficient in experience and short on attention. People tend to lump it into a Kapra or Rockwell kind of kitsch. At least, I fell into that trap.
But now, reading it again closer to 40 makes me understand what a wonderful work of art that play really is. The introduction calls it a "great American play, perhaps THE great American play." And then the writer of the introduction goes on to explain how he experienced the play back in 1988 or '89 with Spalding Gray as the omniscient Stage Manager. Wow.
Wow. Just wow!!
After you've been blessed with a little perspective (read also age and experience), every single meaning in the play that went right over your head at 17 hits you right between the eyes AND STICKS...like the banana in Swimming to Cambodia. So, while I read the play I imagined Gray in that role and let Thornton Wilder take me to Grover's Corners for the mundane drama that is everyday life, for the metaphors that still resound today.
And I loved it.
I loved every character.
Even the school teacher (didn't see that one coming, did you Dan?).
I loved everything they did and everything they said.
That a character can come in, be given all the aspirations and talents in the world then be destroyed by a few words from the Stage Manager dumbfounds me. How terrible, how casual, how like real life.
Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it?
No. The saints and poets, maybe. They do some.
At the end of the Brakiri Day of the Dead episode written by Neil Gaiman, Mr. Morden says, "One does not go to the dead for wisdom".
It seems that Thornton Wilder would disagree.
Read
September 17, 2023Never read this in school but wanted to give it a go before I read Ann Patchett's new book, Tom Lake. Enjoyed it! Not rating it though because I'd rather see it in person to judge it.
August 19, 2020
Reading this play for the first time when I was in (then equivalent of) junior high was like discovering someone who had been reading my thoughts—or anyway could make sense of them. I remember going from ‘A-ha!’ to ‘Oh yes!’ all throughout until I got to the last act and Emily’s return to her family home on her 12th birthday. Then with tears streaming down my face I imagined myself saying the same words to my own mother, “Oh, Mama, just look at me one minute as though you really saw me,” and later, “Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it?—every, every minute?”
I knew the answer to that rhetorical question was no. Yet it gave me the empathy I needed to be compassionate with those around me as I was incapable of holding on to that beautiful realization about life for five minutes past closing the cover of the book. Why? Why did I need to keep coming back to this book (or its equivalent) to remember how precious every second of life is? Why is it so easy to forget and so hard to remember?
Every thing in this play aches of simple joy, family togetherness, life shared and the elusiveness of tender love. Some might call it romantic or even simplistic I suppose. One reviewer here on GRs, said that Wilder was ‘trying to be Profound, and achieved only a scrabbling Pathetic.’ She focused solely on the stars at the end. Not many other reviewers agree with her, including me. I’ve lost track of how many times I have returned to Our Town. God willing there will be more.
Emily’s words have haunted me from the first, and I pray they always do. Sweet sweet life, may I do better each day to treasure you as the Great Gift you are!
I knew the answer to that rhetorical question was no. Yet it gave me the empathy I needed to be compassionate with those around me as I was incapable of holding on to that beautiful realization about life for five minutes past closing the cover of the book. Why? Why did I need to keep coming back to this book (or its equivalent) to remember how precious every second of life is? Why is it so easy to forget and so hard to remember?
Every thing in this play aches of simple joy, family togetherness, life shared and the elusiveness of tender love. Some might call it romantic or even simplistic I suppose. One reviewer here on GRs, said that Wilder was ‘trying to be Profound, and achieved only a scrabbling Pathetic.’ She focused solely on the stars at the end. Not many other reviewers agree with her, including me. I’ve lost track of how many times I have returned to Our Town. God willing there will be more.
Emily’s words have haunted me from the first, and I pray they always do. Sweet sweet life, may I do better each day to treasure you as the Great Gift you are!
August 23, 2020
Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it? - every.. every minute?
September 15, 2020
Excellent. A pure joy to read. Now I would like to see it performed.
September 8, 2023
“Now there are some things we all know, but we don’t take’m out and look at’m very often. We all know that *something* is eternal. And it ain’t houses and it ain’t names, and it ain’t earth, and it ain’t even the stars… everybody knows in their bones that *something* is eternal, and that something has to do with human beings.”
The days are long and the years are short.
There was the Easter Sunday when my son showed up early in this world, all breech and stubborn, and he howled for the first twenty-four hours of his life.
There were the days, constricting and expanding, dawns and evenings colliding in a happy, desperate haze of fatigue and wonder, in the thick fog of the early months when I was just trying to keep a baby alive.
There was the precious day when I ventured outside in the arctic cold, my ten-month old son all bundled up in his stroller, when the wind suddenly stopped blowing and I felt the sun heating up my face and the blinding light whitening the long road, and I thought "damn, it's so good to be alive".
There are the nights, every night, when my now eight-year old son wants to talk about “life” and asks me about the perplexing other “voice” in his head, his own Jiminy Cricket conscience, before going to sleep.
There are the nights, every night, right before he falls asleep, where I stare at his face in the semi-darkness and I swear I can see neutrinos trembling instead of his skin. As if the air is moving and alive and I’m reminded for a split second about the ripples of the universe.
I was in it. I am in it. Am I paying attention?
The long nights will become the short years.
“Our Town”, filled with the humming, loving voices of the dead, beats its quintessential American drum like an essential reminder: You are in it. Are you paying attention?
The days are long and the years are short.
There was the Easter Sunday when my son showed up early in this world, all breech and stubborn, and he howled for the first twenty-four hours of his life.
There were the days, constricting and expanding, dawns and evenings colliding in a happy, desperate haze of fatigue and wonder, in the thick fog of the early months when I was just trying to keep a baby alive.
There was the precious day when I ventured outside in the arctic cold, my ten-month old son all bundled up in his stroller, when the wind suddenly stopped blowing and I felt the sun heating up my face and the blinding light whitening the long road, and I thought "damn, it's so good to be alive".
There are the nights, every night, when my now eight-year old son wants to talk about “life” and asks me about the perplexing other “voice” in his head, his own Jiminy Cricket conscience, before going to sleep.
There are the nights, every night, right before he falls asleep, where I stare at his face in the semi-darkness and I swear I can see neutrinos trembling instead of his skin. As if the air is moving and alive and I’m reminded for a split second about the ripples of the universe.
I was in it. I am in it. Am I paying attention?
The long nights will become the short years.
“Our Town”, filled with the humming, loving voices of the dead, beats its quintessential American drum like an essential reminder: You are in it. Are you paying attention?
June 10, 2019
Loved it! My full review will be up on my booktube channel at http://YouTube.com/peterlikesbooks
March 4, 2020
این نمایش رو به کارگردانی حسن معجونی در تاریخ اردیبهشت ۹۸ بود که اجرا کردیم.
تقریبا متناش رو حفظم چون هر شب رو صحنه میشنیدماش.
به نظرم متن خیلی جذاب و زیباییه. حال و هوای خیلی خوبی میسازه و یه راوی بامزه هم داره.
از لحاظ اجرایی، میشه گفت یه اجرا و حتا متن فاصله گذارانهس، یعنی راوی میاد با مردم حرف میزنه و چیزهایی که توی صحنه وجود داره رو توضیح میده.
مثلا: اینجا یه خونهس، اینجا باغچهس، این فلانیه که داره میره سر کار و الی آخر.
قصه توی آمریکای دهه ۳۰ میگذ��ه (اگر اشتباه نکنم) و درباره یه خانوادهس که بچههاشون بزرگ میشن و ازدواج میکنن و میمیرن. قصه، درباره روزمرگی و اتفاقات معمولیه. هیچ چیز خاصی توش رخ نمیده و به نظر من داره درباره ارزشگذاریِ چیزهای معمولی زندگی حرف میزنه.
این که همه چیز چقدر تکراری و چقدر مهم میتونه جلو بره.
مخصوصا وقتی در پرده آخر، با مرگ مواجه میشیم و در انتها با یک مونولوگ از یکی از شخصیتهای اصلی که یه قسمتش توی ذهنم جا خوش کرده:
«...خدانگهدار حمومای گرم، ملافههای تازه شسته شده...»
توی این مونولوگ دختره میاد از زندگیش خداحافظی میکنه و اتفاقی که برای من افتاد این بود که بعد از خوندن این متن، نظرم نسبت به حمومها عوض شد. دیدم چه چیز جذابیه این حموم گرم! چه چیزی که تابحال ازش غافل بودم، انجامش میدادم ولی نمیفهمیدم که چقدر با ارزشه.
شهر ما همینه. قراره بهمون نشون بده که تو زندگی چی داریم و چه چیزهایی وجود داره که هنوز خوب بهشون نگاه نکردیم ولی شایسته توجهان.
تقریبا متناش رو حفظم چون هر شب رو صحنه میشنیدماش.
به نظرم متن خیلی جذاب و زیباییه. حال و هوای خیلی خوبی میسازه و یه راوی بامزه هم داره.
از لحاظ اجرایی، میشه گفت یه اجرا و حتا متن فاصله گذارانهس، یعنی راوی میاد با مردم حرف میزنه و چیزهایی که توی صحنه وجود داره رو توضیح میده.
مثلا: اینجا یه خونهس، اینجا باغچهس، این فلانیه که داره میره سر کار و الی آخر.
قصه توی آمریکای دهه ۳۰ میگذ��ه (اگر اشتباه نکنم) و درباره یه خانوادهس که بچههاشون بزرگ میشن و ازدواج میکنن و میمیرن. قصه، درباره روزمرگی و اتفاقات معمولیه. هیچ چیز خاصی توش رخ نمیده و به نظر من داره درباره ارزشگذاریِ چیزهای معمولی زندگی حرف میزنه.
این که همه چیز چقدر تکراری و چقدر مهم میتونه جلو بره.
مخصوصا وقتی در پرده آخر، با مرگ مواجه میشیم و در انتها با یک مونولوگ از یکی از شخصیتهای اصلی که یه قسمتش توی ذهنم جا خوش کرده:
«...خدانگهدار حمومای گرم، ملافههای تازه شسته شده...»
توی این مونولوگ دختره میاد از زندگیش خداحافظی میکنه و اتفاقی که برای من افتاد این بود که بعد از خوندن این متن، نظرم نسبت به حمومها عوض شد. دیدم چه چیز جذابیه این حموم گرم! چه چیزی که تابحال ازش غافل بودم، انجامش میدادم ولی نمیفهمیدم که چقدر با ارزشه.
شهر ما همینه. قراره بهمون نشون بده که تو زندگی چی داریم و چه چیزهایی وجود داره که هنوز خوب بهشون نگاه نکردیم ولی شایسته توجهان.
October 20, 2015
Description: Our Town was first produced and published in 1938 to wide acclaim. This Pulitzer Prize-winning drama of life in the small village of Grover's Corners, an allegorical representation of all life, has become a classic. It is Thornton Wilder's most renowned and most frequently performed play.
Our Town is a 1940 film adaptation of a play of the same name by Thornton Wilder starring William Holden, Martha Scott, Fay Bainter, Beulah Bondi, Thomas Mitchell, Guy Kibbee and Frank Craven. It was adapted by Harry Chandlee, Craven and Wilder. It was directed by Sam Wood. The movie was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. Scott, who repeated her stage role as Emily Webb, was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress, and Aaron Copland was nominated for Best Score.
Watch here
Our Town
2* The Bridge of San Luis Rey
5* The Ides of March
April 14, 2007
A timeless masterpiece!This is absolutely my favorite play. It is timeless and universal, pertaining to anyone, anywhere. The story takes place in a small town at the turn of the century, in 1901, and takes place over the course of about fourteen years. The story line is extremely simplistic, but allows the reader to focus on the deeper themes that author, Thorton Wilder, is able to display. The play has three acts that each represent daily life, love and marriage, and death. Living people are portrayed as ignorant to life's small significances. The way that this is presented is touching, and had a huge impact on the way that I look at life. This play taught me to have a unique appreciation for life and its offerings. As I mentioned, its ideas are universal and very sentimental.
September 6, 2017
I remember reading this back in high school, and at that time I thought this was one of the most boring things I ever read. However, in rereading this as an adult I discovered that there is something to appreciate in this play. The basic message of this play is that life is made up of a lot of mundane everyday activities, and that we often don't appreciate these experiences until it's too late. That's not really a message that can reach younger people who are chasing dreams and looking for adventure, but it is something that an older person with a family might understand. So, if you've only read this as a high school student, it might be a good idea to check it out again.
February 28, 2023
It’s a regular little town in the US a hundred years ago. It’s an extraordinary little town in the US a hundred years ago. It’s very ordinariness makes it extraordinary. As is, Wilder hints, all life. To walk. To talk. To eat. To drink. And, perhaps most of all, sharing this amazing life with others. Read this play and you will remember to be alive. To everything.
March 28, 2019
بعد از اونيل، ويليامز، پينتر، بكت، سارتر، البي و مكدونا، ديشب وايلدر هم به جمع نمايشنامه نويسان استثنايي پيوست...
alienation effect
نداشت نميدونم چي ميشد!
پ.ن. توی خوانش دوم به تاریخ هشتم فروردین ۹۸، از پنج ستاره چهار ستاره شدی.
alienation effect
نداشت نميدونم چي ميشد!
پ.ن. توی خوانش دوم به تاریخ هشتم فروردین ۹۸، از پنج ستاره چهار ستاره شدی.
September 15, 2023
I live near the Westport Country Playhouse in Connecticut and have been going to their plays for years. For a long time Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward were benefactors of the playhouse. One of my great regrets was not attending the benefit performances of Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town” staged by the playhouse about 20 years ago wherein Paul Newman played the Stage Manager. The Stage Manager in “Our Town” is an all-knowing character of a sleepy village in New Hampshire who knows the life stories of everyone in the town. He makes no judgements, just shows them at three stages of their lives beginning in 1901. The play dwells mostly on the lives of neighbors Emily and George, teenagers when the play begins. Act I shows them at the start of their lives, in school together. She’s the smartest girl in the school, he’s mostly interested in baseball. But they each kind of know that the other one is special. The Second Act shows them at the high point of their lives, getting ready for their wedding. Act III shows them about 10 years later with an untimely death. It’s a very emotional play but the Stage Manager plays it unemotionally because all lives pretty much follow the same pattern, like the 5:45 AM train to Boston every morning, or Howie Newsome delivering milk with his horse every morning.
My interest in “Our Town” was piqued by its inclusion in the book “Tom Lake” in which Lara’s performance as Emily in a High School production jump started her short-lived acting career as Emily, and her love affair with an actor playing George. Neither ended particularly well. But like Howie Newsome’s horse that continues to stop at a house long after the owner stops buying Howie’s milk, Lara’s daughters don’t want to leave the acting and love story untold. Because everyone’s life is a story that needs to be told, not left in some graveyard to forget about when the play is over.
My interest in “Our Town” was piqued by its inclusion in the book “Tom Lake” in which Lara’s performance as Emily in a High School production jump started her short-lived acting career as Emily, and her love affair with an actor playing George. Neither ended particularly well. But like Howie Newsome’s horse that continues to stop at a house long after the owner stops buying Howie’s milk, Lara’s daughters don’t want to leave the acting and love story untold. Because everyone’s life is a story that needs to be told, not left in some graveyard to forget about when the play is over.
May 7, 2017
Our Town is a short powerful play by Thornton Wilder. It portrays our environment, lives, and death within the very few pages. The story is so vivid, it draws one into the town, and the lives of the characters. It is historical and philosophical. But what amazes me most is the realistic view of our lives that is encompassed.
Emily symbolizes life, marriage, and death. In life, she is almost always with his friend and neighbor George Gibbs. Marriage comes to her without any training. She is forced to learn the heard way. Happiness and eternal happiness is what she desires. She hopes to be loved forever. However, she looses her life as well as the foetus during choldbirth.
On the other hand, George believes he can love Emily forever. He doesn't entertain some of the superstions of his time. He seems to be a romanticist who thinks the best for everything. He isn't afraid of any challenges in his path.
All in all the Town is has people from all background. It tell us that we can co-exist no matter our differences. Whether we are rich, educated, or ignorant, there is a purpose for us. Always we are reminded to live and be happy as it is only through life that we can be happy.
Emily symbolizes life, marriage, and death. In life, she is almost always with his friend and neighbor George Gibbs. Marriage comes to her without any training. She is forced to learn the heard way. Happiness and eternal happiness is what she desires. She hopes to be loved forever. However, she looses her life as well as the foetus during choldbirth.
On the other hand, George believes he can love Emily forever. He doesn't entertain some of the superstions of his time. He seems to be a romanticist who thinks the best for everything. He isn't afraid of any challenges in his path.
All in all the Town is has people from all background. It tell us that we can co-exist no matter our differences. Whether we are rich, educated, or ignorant, there is a purpose for us. Always we are reminded to live and be happy as it is only through life that we can be happy.
April 11, 2009
I have read this book too many times to count. It is amazingly ageless and speaks to each generation. I was priviledged to see Paul Newman open as the Stage Manager on opening night in Wesport,CT. I read quotes from it at my younger sister's funeral. I carries a lot of weight with me. Read the book before you ever see a high school production!
October 14, 2011
Brilliant allegory, but needs to be seen.
October 4, 2017
Read this for my English class, very different play with a great message!
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