Trudie Lee

From Our Town

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Our Town by Theatre Calgary
Max Bell Theatre
Tuesday, January 15 - Sunday, February 3

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Max Bell Theatre

"Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it?" So asks a character of Emily Webb in Thornton Wilder's Pulitzer Prize-winning classic, Our Town. Eric Rose, who directs Theatre Calgary's latest offering, describes Our Town as "a series of huge ideas wrapped up into a tale of small-town American life."

The play was first produced in 1938. Contrary to theatrical conventions of the time, the action unfolds on a bare stage, with characters miming their actions without the aid of props. "Wilder celebrates the nature of theatre. He utilizes the audience's palette of memories, making the show a participatory experience," says Rose. "Wilder believed that life, with all its sorrows and joys, is in our minds, not in stage scenery.”

The story begins in 1901 in the fictional town of Grover's Corners, with the Stage Manager (played by Citytv's Dave Kelly) telling the audience that they are witnessing a piece of theatre. "Being in this play is a bit like being in a symphony," says Kelly. "I'm not known for subtlety," he laughs, explaining how Rose had him rehearse lines with his hands in his pockets, so he was forced to use the words of the play to convey the story.

The Stage Manager guides the audience through the show's three acts, setting scenes and introducing the characters of Grover's Corners as they go about the minutiae of their daily lives. The play comes to focus on two characters, George Gibbs and Emily Webb. Over the course of the play, the audience witnesses how marriage, birth and death affect their lives. "George and Emily represent every couple that's ever fallen in love, while George's mother is representative of all mothers," says Rose.

This universality makes Our Town just as relevant today as it was 70 years ago. "The human condition has always been about life, death and love. Even though the play was written in the 1930s, it's set in 1901. The author is saying that what was happening in 1938 was the same as what was happening in 1901, and it continues to be the same in 2008 and beyond," says Kelly.

Rose says it's all the small moments that, put together, make a life. "Those small moments of having breakfast with your mother. We take those for granted every day. Yet, we're linked together in this most universal way," he says.

Kelly says he wants people who see the play "to look around at those they love. In the play, Emily says, ‘we never look at each other.’ I hope people will understand how important it is to just look," he says.

This is the first time in Theatre Calgary's 40-year history that it will stage Our Town. Featuring an all-Calgary cast, Rose says the play is appropriate for the theatre's 40th-anniversary season because it celebrates life, community and theatre itself. It’s also relevant to Calgary in the context of the city's boom. "How do we, as a community, want to be remembered?" asks Rose. "As a bunch of oil stocks?”

"In the rush of daily living, you may think the Treaty of Versailles is more important than having supper with your family,” Kelly adds. “But, in reality, sitting down to dinner with your loved ones is more important."