Talk:Our Town
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[edit] Stage Manager
in the analysys part "all that education for nothing," Wilder says is incorrect because in the play it is actualy the Stage Manager who says that. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.207.199.32 (talk) 04:28, 27 March 2008 (UTC)
[edit] Neutrality Disputed?
How is the neutrality disputed? I see no discussion here.70.97.157.47 (talk) 18:09, 19 March 2008 (UTC)
Agreed. Ansh666 (talk) 03:32, 9 April 2008 (UTC)
[edit] Dubious assertion?
The current version asserts: "The Stage Manager, traditionally played by a single person, was turned into an ensemble of girls, acting both as narrators and a sort of Greek chorus, reacting to situations unfolding around them and ultimately working their way into the action as characters."
I have seen no published version of Thornton Wilder's OUR TOWN that supports this assertion. I have seen the role of Stage Manager portrayed by an actress, but not by an "ensemble of girls" although some director in some production may well have altered Wilder's play in this manner. However such a production is far from usual. Certainly the December, 2002, Broadway production featuring Paul Newman as Stage Manager had no such ensemble of girls. Unless support for this assertion can be produced, I propose reverting the change. Frankatca 02:43, 17 March 2007 (UTC)
I removed the statement. The play's text does not include this happening, and I doubt that any production would have implemented the chorus. Enam Esru 14:00, 3 May 2007 (UTC)
[edit] A request for a video link
I'd like to see a link to a video of the play, Our Town. Free would be best. For example, a high school computer class could work with a high school drama class and link from Wikipedia to the on-demand video. Having an actual play to watch is worth a million words.
Kaydell Leavitt
- My school put on Our Town last year, and I believe it was videotaped. (I played Howie Newsome.)
- Not sure what the licensing situation would be, but I might be able to get it posted somewhere. -Fadookie Talk 06:16, 5 May 2006 (UTC)
The play is still under copyright, so you would have to get permission from the playwright's estate, which I am doubtful they would be willing to give. I'm afraid renting/library borrowing are your choices--Natcase 13:16, 12 January 2007 (UTC)
No spoilers follow the warning; in fact, not much seems to follow the warning at all. Vivacissamamente 03:06, 31 August 2005 (UTC)
Sorry for adding my edits in three different segments instead of all at once. I kept noticing more things after I edited. omtay38 23:24, 13 November 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Plot summary changes
I made a few changes to the plot summary- there were some details out of order and some that didn't do a good job of telling what really happens in the play. The end of Act 3 was especially confusing. They were errors that to me seemed obvious to someone who's read or seen the play. There were also a few minor grammar problems. I am a very new Wikipedian so I hope there's not a protocol or something on how to edit plot summaries-- I thought I'd just throw this out there. TysK 02:43, 26 March 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Factual Changes
Please see the reference I added to the Afterword by Tappan Wilder. The play was not finished at the MacDowell Colony but at Columbia University Club in NYC. The play was first perfomed (once) in Princeton and then subquently in Boston before moving to New York. Early reviews were unfavorable. JJ 16:38, 17 January 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Honors of the Play
Before I delete this latest addition, can someone tell me what "Honors of the Play" is supposed to mean? JJ 23:05, 9 February 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Historical Background
I've been compiling a bit of information about the relationship between Thornton Wilder and Samuel Steward during the run of a production of Our Town at Ohio State, and the following references may be of some interest to other students interested in the history of the work. They may be helpful in resolving the question of where the work was "completed" as well (there appears to be some argument above, these are primary sources).
The Letters of Gertrude Stein and Thornton Wilder ISBN: 0300067747 Pages 168-72: a conversation where Wilder first mentions "Our Town", a work in progress, to Stein. Stein repeatedly encourages Wilder to meet Samuel Steward, then traveling to Zurich to meet with Thomas Mann.
Dear Sammy: Letters from Gertrude Stein & Alice B. Toklas ISBN: 0395253403 Page 32: A conversation about Steward's influence on Wilder during the drafting of the third act. GS: "Sammy, do you know he liked you? [...] You walked all night in the rain with him and he struck a match on you, he said, and wrote the whole third act the next day while you were sleeping." SS: "I might have guessed that, from the way he kept pumping me."
Steward was a professor of English at Ohio State University, the library there has a number of Steward's works available for review among their rare books and manuscripts special collections. [1] Dhimelright 17:56, 24 February 2007 (UTC)
Addendum: Steward was on the faculty at OSU during the final year of his PhD, but never held a post as a professor at OSU. --Dhimelright 02:53, 11 April 2007 (UTC)
Many schools enjoy reacting this play, and do it very well. My friends that were in it had their lives changed. Their eyes were opened to the world, as they said.
You might consider adding a sentence or two about the period during which the play was written & first produced -- the Great Depression along with the totalitarian violence in Germany, Italy, Japan & Russia, especially the rise of Hitler and the USSR famine & the purges of Stalin, all very anxious-making, even on this side of the pond. This adds an extra yearning for the "simpler" times, though they were perched in 1913, as Wilder & his audience well-knew, on the verge the horrific trench slaughter of WWI. Oh, by the way, I added that the music for the movie was written by Aaron Copeland. He wrote an orchestral suite from this music, which has been often recorded, and is written in the same style as his 3rd symphony & Appalacian Spring. Rather nice. Dave Young, 6/6/08. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 206.53.16.2 (talk) 02:12, 7 June 2008 (UTC)
