Central High School Theatre Presents Thornton Wilder’s Play Our Town

On March 22 (7 pm), 23rd (7 pm), and 24th (2:30 pm), Central High School Theatre will present the play, Our Town by Thornton Wilder. Rights are provided by special arrangements with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French, Inc.

Tickets are on sale online and will also be available at performances. Ticket prices for the production are $7 for adults and $5 for students with zero credit service charges added to this price if using a credit card to purchase tickets ahead of time online or at the box office. Running time is approximately two hours including a fifteen minute intermission.

The production is directed by Barbara Hilt, Central High School Theatre teacher and program director who is assisted by Bill Weaver, Central High School Technical Director. Bill Weaver will also appear as the role of the Stage Manager in the production alongside 32 students who will make up the cast of the production.

Synopsis of the Play
Our Town is a three-act play written by American playwright Thornton Wilder in 1938. Described by Edward Albee as "the greatest American play ever written," it presents the fictional American town of Grover's Corners between 1901 and 1913 through the everyday lives of its citizens.

Wilder uses metatheatrical devices, setting the play in the actual theatre where it is being performed. The main character is the stage manager of the theatre who directly addresses the audience, brings in guest lecturers, fields questions from the audience, and fills in playing some of the roles. The play is performed without a set on a mostly bare stage. With a few exceptions, the actors mime actions without the use of props.

The first performance of Our Town was at the McCarter Theatre in Princeton, New Jersey, on January 22, 1938. It went on to success on Broadway and received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and remains popular today with frequent revivals.

"Our Town has been such a special production to direct. In many ways, it seems we have lost sight of how simple life could be with all of our busy schedules and instant information with today's technology and social media platforms. It has been truly refreshing stepping back into 1901 with this cast of students and it has been wonderful to have Mr Bill Weaver providing a different viewpoint from a different generation as the role of the "stage manager." My grandparents owned a farm in Nemaha County, Nebraska that we would visit every summer. There was not indoor plumbing, only an outhouse and we barely had heat. I learned a lot about appreciating everyday life and everything that I was given by my parents by living on the farm in the summers. They were hardworking people and though their lives might seem plain by today's standards, it was a refreshing glimpse into the past every summer. My mother helped to advise the cast on some of the pantomime of household chores as she lived on this farm as a girl, and though she was born in 1944, she had to do the washing by hand and heat up an old wood burning stove and draw water from a well. She gave the cast some insight into the lives of her parents and her grandparents when preparing for this production. I also love the simplified scenery and very few props written into the production by Thornton Wilder. It is a beautiful show that embraces our own community here in Salina, as well as paying tribute to Grover's Corners, New Hampshire as this could be any town in American in 1901 and it could be our Town as well." -Barbara Hilt, Director