Three-Act Play "Our City"

Thornton Wilder that takes place in the town of Grover’s Corner, New Hampshire during the early 1900’s (1901-1913). The Characters throughout the play are all impacted by the period in which they live but I will be addressing George Gibbs, Emily Webb, Mrs. Gibbs and Mrs. Webb. Grover’s Corner is a small town in the beginning of the 20th century where the mother pertains to her household duties, the milkman makes his daily rounds and “town drunks” are known only for their notorious drinking.

Our Town is just describing the daily lives of many citizens through a variety of their given chores/activities. Being a small town, I believe the lives of many characters are impacted but George Gibbs specifically when he settles to just become a farmer.

There is nothing wrong with becoming a farmer but also when he decides to marry Emily Webb he gives his formal education on cultivation. This really doesn’t make sense to me because in the play he asks for help with Algebra homework and tells Emily that she was born smart (saying to himself that he’s basically too stupid to do a profession that requires more schooling).

The time period definitely impacts Mrs. Gibbs and Mrs. Webb because throughout the play they are seen doing nothing but constant chores or making meals for their husbands/children. Overall, I believe women to be the most impacted by the setting/time period of this play because they are so limited in what they can become after schooling (becoming a mother is usually the best option but especially in Grover’s Corner).

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The characters of Emily Webb and George Gibbs come to mind when living as their “authentic selves”. The impact of religion really stems from the idea of “marriage” and I see this impacting both Emily and George because it makes them set back their formal education (religion isn’t really a main factor in this play because it is rarely mentioned). The societal norms in that of Grover’s Corner is to go to school, get married and raise a family together (at pretty young age too). A scene between Emily and George walking home from school is a perfect example of the male societal norm when she tells him that he has become “conceited” since focusing on baseball (he felt pressured to quit baseball to pursue Emily). I feel this held back George from being his authentic self because it was stated how talented a baseball player he was but gave up his career to wed Emily. I feel the love the shared between each other held them both back because George was a great athlete and Emily was an intelligent student (marriage really bound them to Grover’s Corner and didn’t allow them to really venture off into the world to see what they could make of themselves).

I feel both of their ignorance in youth were why these expectations seemed so big and George felt like he had to focus on farming, so he could take over his Uncle’s farm. The gender roles in Grover’s Corner stayed to itself 20th century norms with the mothers tending to the house/children while the father worked for his wages/gave out allowances to his children for helping with the chores. These external expectations of getting married and starting a family to me are the biggest reasons why these characters couldn’t be their “authentic selves” because their loves blinded them (they rushed through experiencing life) They followed the general norms of those in Grover’s Corner by getting married and starting a family. They didn’t reach their true potentials and settled for each other (Emily wanted to give speeches and George was a great athlete) and ultimately lead to Emily’s death in childbirth. This really speaks on the main theme of the play and how humans really take time for granted (our lives have a limit to which it can be lived). The biggest consequence is seen in Emily when she has died and notices how much she barely notices her family. She realized the time she had wasted and regretted not being able to say more to the people she loved.

The Character Emily Webb, George Gibbs and Joe Crowell will be discussed in this section pertaining to their dreams. Both Emily and George win love in this play because they wed and then begin their family life on the farm. Both Emily and George have their dreams satisfied but ultimately cut short. Emily’s dream begins with marrying George and starting their lives together on the farm but is cut short when she dies in childbirth. George’s dream begins when he marries Emily and they begin their lives together on the farm, but it is ultimately cut short when Emily dies during childbirth (leaves him alone to tend the farm while raising their child). A more minor character, Joe Crowell mentioned by the State manager has his dreams cut short before they are even attempted. His dream was to begin a career as an engineer after graduating top of his class from MIT. World War 1 rolls around and he must go fight in the war and ultimately dies in France during battle. Emily wins empathy from me in this play because in her death she realizes all that she has missed.

In her death she comes to understand how us humans are usually trapped in oblivion with the thought of there is always tomorrow (we think we have all the time in the world). The empathy comes directly when she relives her 12th birthday to see how oblivious her entire family was of each other (not even looking at each other) and how much things were rushed (she feels regret that she couldn’t say more). During Act 2 of Our Town George and Emily are about to get married and the context of their dialogue describes specific dreams. Briefly before George and Emily are to be wed both are obviously nervous. While George is speaking with his mother he is called to by Emily’s father asking, “Do you think you can take care of her”. George replies with “Emily, I’m going to do my best. I love you, Emily. I need you”. The dialogue illuminates the characters want, desires and dreams are when Emily says, “All I want is someone to love me”. This illuminates her wants because she loved George and wanted to be with him (she told him that she has had a crush on since they were young). This illuminates her desires because she wanted to be wed and especially to George (she cared deeply for him).

This illuminates her dreams because she wanted to begin a family with George and help him on the farm.  Although she was very intellectual her dream(s) were very basic and stemmed from her environment (watching her mother tend to the house and children/stick to the given gender roles). The Director of Our Town took their artistic approach to better explain the work of the Playwright to the audience (taking the play and working on its’ artistic concept to better represent the Director’s vision/while staying true to the original source). Our Town is set in the early 20th century to which slavery hadn’t been abolished more than 40 years ago so the casting is non-traditional. Another thing the Director could have affected in the story is through it artistic approach through its’ staging, costume design, acting and overall appearance of the performance.

The storytelling elements of the narrative, themes, conflict, plot, characters and settings all came from the original playwright, Thornton Wilder. The use of a minimalistic set was an interesting approach by the playwright to give the play a more realistic feeling. The Director doesn’t change the story itself but more about how it is told and the way in which it will be told. Although the role of the stage manager has been the same throughout all productions of “Our Town” I believe the way in which he narrates the story is more personal. The lighting had a huge role in the production of this play and helped create distinctions in times of day and brought emphasis to certain characters. This can be seen in the transitions between acts by bringing a spotlight on the stage manager to bring direct attention to him, so we are able to understand what will be happening later.

The Director does well in representing the town itself through using stacked boxes to help represent houses and even be used as props for people to sit on (the scene where Emily and George stare at the moon together while doing Algebra homework). The Director did a variety of things to help the audience better understand what was going on during each act. Even little thing like sound effects played a role and one I particularly enjoyed was George crossing the street on a rainy day to see Emily on their wedding day (he jumped from his home kitchen to that of Emily’s to be greeted by Mrs. Webb before telling him to leave). The Director also had an impact on the “block” of the play in which the actors moved across the stage to specific areas (one that has great impact to me is when George goes to Emily’s grave and begins to cry at her “feet”). Overall, I believe the Director had a great impact on the story’s pacing and through the design elements helped make the play itself more impactful.

Design has a huge impact on a performance from its’ costumes to the various backdrops and music used to bring the play to life. The Light Designer used various forms of lighting to help bring emphasis to scenes or distinguish time of day. The Sound Designer incorporates music and sound effects to help produce ambiance in which the audience will be immersed. I would say lighting is the greatest visual design element used to help tell the story of “Our Town”. I feel this can be seen in a multitude of ways but specifically it was used with the stage manager with the spotlight to bring emphasis. Lighting was used heavily throughout the story and it helped tell it by being able to change scenes (it helped show the time of day and was used to bring emphasis to certain characters monologues). This to me both illuminated the journey of the characters while contributing theatricality to the production.

The stage manager used this form of lighting heavily to help narrate the story between acts. The aural element (sound) the comes to mind is the use of sound effects to help give the play a more lifelike appeal. The use of sound effects being made primarily by the actors of stage was used to enhance the theatrics of the production. Throughout the play there were a variety of scenes and these sound effects are used to help build the atmosphere of the scene (specific noises are placed during these scenes to help create the setting and the actions of the characters). This was used throughout the play and things like milk glasses clinging together or even pulling a light switch were used to help add to realism. Both visual and aural elements were used throughout this play to bring life to “Our Town”.

Work(s) Cited

1. Wilder, Thornton. “Our Town.” 9 Nov. 2018, Kennesaw, GA, Stillwell Theater.