Minimalism and Dissatisfaction in “Our Town”

Brian Roach and Shelley Little in “Our Town”

Our Town, Thornton Wilder’s classic about a small American town at the turn of the century, is a play that was first introduced to me to 80s sitcoms and 90s teenage dramas. For some reason, Our Town was the go-to play for teen characters on television shows to use as metaphors for their lives. On My So-Called Life, notable lovable screw-up Rayanne Graff delivered Emily Webb’s last monologue to say goodbye to her friendship with Angela Chase. On The Wonder Years, notable mathematical genius Winnie Cooper played Emily in Our Town and her performance brought her estranged parents back together. On Growing Pains, notable homophobe Mike Seaver flirted with stardom after playing a lead role in Our Town before trying to make it on Broadway.

The most I knew about Our Town was that the play centered on a woman named Emily who died and said goodbye to the people she loved. What I found at Tongue in Cheek’s production at the Shetler Studios was something much different – not a play about a woman coming to terms with her own death, but a story about the people of Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire, going through the motions of life and never stopping to appreciate the moment.

The direction and staging of the show is sparse, as indicated in Thornton Wilder’s text of the play. There is little scenery except for a few wooden tables and chairs that are arranged and re-arranged to indicate different settings. The actors use no props and believably mime their actions against a blank white wall. Minimalism is a key aspect ofthis production of Our Town, highlighting the predictability and blandness of the lives of the people in Grover’s Corners.

Women’s issues play a big role in this production, as the best moments of the play come from some of the female characters and actors. Nina Leese and Kathryn Neville Browne are particularly strong as Mrs. Gibb and Mrs. Webb, respectively, showing passion and fear at the wedding of their children. Mrs. Gibb admonishes her son George to be a man while Mrs. Webb laments that it seems “downright cruel to send girls into marriage,” highlighting the play’s criticism of the restriction of traditional gender roles – George can’t run out on his wedding because that would make him less of a man, and Emily might not get the best deal out of life  by marrying young, but she doesn’t really have any other choice. As Emily, Shelley Little is also affective in her last speech to Grover’s Corners before she joins the other dead, and director Jake Lipman shows empathy for the other characters as the omnipresent Stage Manager (a role traditionally played by a man).

Tongue in Cheek’s Our Town has strong moments, especially near the end, but I remain confused about the ultimate point of the play. I don’t know if we’re supposed to embrace the quaint small-town values of the people of Grover’s Corners, or criticize them for their occasional judgmental nature. I don’t know if we’re supposed to believe that Emily loves George when we see her sitting with him in an ice cream store, or if we’re supposed to take her at her word when she tells the audience she hates him before walking up the aisle. Does Emily love George and hate the societal pressure to marry so young, or does she have ambivalent feelings about George himself? The play isn’t clear with answering that question, and I still can’t decide if the ambiguity is a positive or negative aspect of the text. Despite some of the strong moments in Tongue in Cheek’s production, I have to wonder if a play like Our Town is better left to the historical fiction section of the library, or at least in the realm of 80s and 90s teenage dramas.

Our Town is playing at Shetler Studios on 244 West 54th Street from October 17-20 and October 24-27.