PLAY IDEA WORKSHEET & VIEWING & READING OUR TOWN

Danielle Buoniconti

Plot & Characters: The main character in the play is Emily Webb. She is George Webb’s next-door neighbor. They fall in love, and once they graduate from high school, they get married. Nine years later, Emily sadly dies in childbirth. The play tells Emily’s story and how it tragically ends in the third act.

Theme: The main message of the play is that we live life and fail to appreciate what it has to offer. Humans tend to focus on other things, rather than the more important ones. Characters in the play experience this. They never leave their small town and fail to experience adventure in their lives. Additionally, a theme of the play is small-town life. It is a simple, dull existence, and those who live there love the town, despite this. They are content with what it has to offer, and they choose not to leave it for places such as college. Another theme is home. The characters have a sense of comfort in their town. They do not feel a need to leave it. The circle of life is also a theme in the play. The play encompasses the cycle of life in three acts. It includes childhood, adulthood, love, marriage, and death.

Language: The characters speak with a slight northern accent, since they are from New Hampshire. It is also formal. The characters do not often speak with slang words. The professor, however, used the word, “ain’t.” Although the female characters are very proper and do not use slang words. They annunciate their sounds well. Overall, their language is quite different than modern, everyday speech. Most people today speak in a relaxed, comfortable manner. It is less rigid and strict language. The teenaged characters use phrases such as, “So long,” which modern teens would say, “Bye” or “See ya later.” Additionally, the teenaged girl says to her mother, “It was like silk off a spool.” Modern day teenagers do not use this type of language. They use similes but reference different things.

Staging: The stage is bare and still. There is minimal movement of characters as well. The characters often sit next to each other or stand facing each other.

Acting: The acting is contained and realistic for the time in which the play is set. The behavior of the characters seems suited to the time period (1901).

Scenery: The scenery is quite minimal in the play. There is no curtain. The focus is mainly on the characters. The costumes and lighting align with the scenery in that they are all dark and grey. The backdrop behind the characters is often black, and nothing else can be seen. In fact, the narrator comments on the lack of scenery, when he says, “those who think they have to have scenery." There are different purposes for the no definite scenery. For example, it is universal, and it can be easily recreated on other stages. The audience is left to use their imagination as to picture what the town looks like. The playwright designed the play in this manner so that an accurate picture of life is portrayed to the audience. There are few props. The playwright is also drawing focus to ordinary things in life with his approach to the scenery. Moreover, the lack of scenery highlights the dullness and simplicity of the town.

Costumes: The narrator wears dress pants, dress shirt, tie, and a vest. He also carries a cane. The female characters wear plain, simple long-sleeved dresses and boots. The mother characters wear aprons as well. The professor wears a suit and bow tie. The attire of the characters in the play is formal. The costumes help dramatize the story by displaying that the people are minimalistic and do not wear expensive, fancy attire. Lighting: The stage is mainly dark. Lighting is minimal. There is enough light in order to be able to see the character’s faces however. The light that shines on the character’s faces comes from above them. It helps dramatize the story by contributing to the simplicity and basicness of the town.

Conventions: The play begins with a narrator explaining what the play is about and the layout of the town on a chalkboard. He is also the Stage Manager. Pantomime is another convention that is used throughout the play as well. Mrs. Gibbs begins to use it when she enters the kitchen to cook breakfast in the morning. The paper boy as well as the doctor uses this convention. These conventions are also applied in The Golden Goose. Narration is used in The Small House of Uncle Thomas as well.