PLAY IDEA WORKSHEET & VIEWING & READING OUR TOWN

“Our Town” Response - Emma Morrison

Plot & Characters:

The major characters of this play are the Narrator, Emily Webb, George Gibbs, Mr. Gibbs, Mrs. Gibbs, Mr. Webb and Mrs. Webb. The play is set in a community named Grover’s Corners and is about the lives of these small-town characters. It opens with the narrator introducing the audience to the setting in the play. Emily Webb is the main character, and the audience watches her important life-events as she goes from a girl to a woman. How she falls in love with George, graduates high school, gets married and tragically dies in childbirth in the third act.

Theme:

The theme of this play is that people tend to take life for granted without appreciation for the small things in life. In the end, we look back at everything we have experienced and realize that we should have lived more in the moment. It is about understanding what parts of life are important and what parts are meaningless in the grand scheme of things.

Language:

There is formality to the way the characters are speaking which is appropriate to the period in which the play takes place. It is different from the modern language and helps to set the more “old-fashioned” tone of the play. It is both proper at times and more casual at other times where some slang is being used.

Staging:

There is no definite scenery in this play and minimal set design. The movement of the characters was also minimal and not a lot of props were used in the play.

Acting:

The actors use pantomime where they interact with imaginary objects and are able to convey to the audience what they are doing. The acting of the characters is fitting to the behavior of people in that time period.

Scenery:

There is no definite scenery in “Our Town” which shifts more of the focus of the audience to the characters themselves. This allows the audience to use their imagination and also makes the play more universal in that in can be performed on many other stages. There are also not a lot of props being used throughout the play which further makes the audience more attentive to what the actors are actually gesturing.

Costumes:

The characters wore costumes that were fitting to the time period in which the play is set which is sometime in the early 20th century. The Stage Manager is formally dressed which is true for the rest of the characters as well. The women in this play wear simple dresses, and all the costumes are neutral in color.

Lighting:

The lighting in the play is soft and blue tones were often used. In certain scenes where some of the characters were more important than others, the light would shift and point to them which helped the audience to concentrate their focus on these characters.

Conventions:

The Stage Manager is narrating the play and interacts with both the audience and characters. He also draws the town with chalk, so the audience understands the layout. The characters would also sometimes speak to the audience. Pantomime is used in this play as well where imaginary objects come to life through the characters acting. This can be seen when Emily helps George with his homework.