One of the things that strikes me over and over about our production of "Our Town" is how much life imitates art. Or maybe it's the other way around. Some of this is due to the genius of Thornton Wilder's play and why it's endured for 70 years, In our case, when you get a bunch of "just plain folks" to play a cast of "just plain folks," it's just bound to ring true. None of us is in "Our Town" because we have visions of stardom. Most of us, I think, couldn't say for sure why we're in it. The chance to work with director Bob DuCharme is what sealed the deal for me - maybe for some of the rest of us, too.
The upshot of all this is it's been a real treat seeing us all pull together, find out about each other, take an interest in each other, care about each other ... despite the differences in our ages (10-70) and backgrounds.
Proof positive of the pure spirit in our production can be found in our leads, George and Emily, played by Daniel Renaud and Wendy Raymond. Despite all the fine opportunities for young actors - Robert Kramsky at BUHS, New England Youth Theatre - these two have never been in a play before. They're good friends, and they've decided to take the plunge into acting, and it's been great watching them grow before our eyes. They have challenging parts, and they've worked really hard to get it right.
And we've gotten to know them. Daniel had hopes of getting into flight school; Wendy's a hard worker who wants to be a nurse. We've been rooting for them as they waited for their college acceptance letters.
Then, one day at the end of rehearsal last week. They asked to do this one scene, where George is telling Emily of his hopes and dreams to become a farmer. They asked if the rest of the cast would watch them ... presumably to show us that they had finally mastered a difficult scene. Instead, as he was reciting his lines, Daniel veered deliberately off the script to let us know that he had been accepted into aviation school at Daniel Webster, in the Concord/Manchester, N.H. area. And Wendy replied that she had been accepted at Saint Anselm to study nursing.
Yep, these two friends, who inspired each other to take a mighty plunge into acting together will be going to college 10 miles away from each other.
The cast smiled and applauded at the news. It was an immensely warm and satisfying moment.
It was ... so Grover's Corners.