Life is full of trials, tribulations, love and death. In short, it’s a drama. Pulitzer Prize-winning Our Town by Thornton Wilder is a drama that focuses on finding lessons about life in a world that contains both virtue and vice.
ETSU’s Theatre Division is presenting Our Town, the New York Times No. 1 pick in “100 Best Plays.”
“Each year Our Town is the No. 1 or No. 2 most-produced play in the nation rotating spots with You Can’t Take It with You, said Pat Cronin, director and associate professor of theatre.
“Both plays talk about family,” Cronin said. “I enjoy directing plays like these because we are all a product of our families – love and hate, kind and cruel.”
Love is an emotion often mentioned and frequently in evidence in Our Town.
Family love, friendship, selfless love and romance are expressed throughout.
“The evolution of life begins with birth and ends with death. Each level is experienced in the characters’ lives,” Cronin said. “While the cycle of life is flashing before them, they pass up the beauty and often forget the meaning of life.”
The predominant families, the Webb and Gibbs, are introduced in the beginning. They live ordinary lives and spend their time gossiping, working and helping others.
The second act is about love and marriage, where the audience is taken from the courtship of George and Emily to the Gibbs’ reaction and the wedding.
In the third act, Emily dies and comes back to celebrate her 12th birthday, and thus catalyzes the realization that people pay so little attention to life.
More than 65 years have passed since Wilder wrote Our Town.
“The ideas still resonate, and relate to everyday life so it’s easy to find truths in the text,” James Cronin said, son of Pat Cronin. “It gives a chance for us to explore our own lives.”
James plays the role of George Gibbs, the son of town physician Doc Gibbs. George is the “All-American” boy who is nice, polite and normal and falls hopelessly in love with Emily, the “All-American” girl.
“I never read the play until this year,” James said. “I fell in love with the ideas in the play. I think that it’s a really nice story with a very subtle and powerful message.
“This play has made me realize that too often do we just race through life. We miss so much beauty and excitement; moments just pass us by.”
The character Emily, who dies giving birth, asks the Stage Manager, “Doesn’t anybody get it?”
After coming back from the dead to experience life, all that once seemed ordinary was no longer ordinary. It was extraordinary.
“We think of our lives as big events when it’s the small things that make life worth living,” said Rick McVey, who plays the role of The Stage Manager.
The Stage Manager interacts with the audience, making observations about the characters’ lives, McVey says.
“Real issues and concerns are brought up in this play and our characters shed light on them,” he said. “Our Town portrays characters that are similar to ourselves so it’s easier for us to relate to the play.”
Our Town is a universal play that almost everyone can relate to, Cronin said.
“In a sense, we are celebrating Johnson City in this play because Johnson City is ‘our town.”
The students have worked together in the play to create a production that will not only be enjoyable for the viewers, but will also give them the experience needed to go places and become actors.
“I’m trying to help them develop the skills needed to become great one day,” Cronin said.
“I got my first break when I was 3 years old by singing Irish songs on the radio for The Horn and Hardart, and that led into playing spots on television shows such as Home Improvement, Seinfeld, All In The Family and Cheers.”
All these life experiences have helped Cronin in his preparation for Our Town.
“I’m excited to be producing this play,” Cronin said. “There are lots of good productions of this play, but we’re wanting ours to be great, and I hope it will be.”
The play will run Thursday through Saturday at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, Nov. 23 at 2 p.m. in the Veterans Administration Memorial Theatre.
Tickets are $5 for students and faculty with IDs and $10 for the community.
“Our lives are irreplaceable,” McVey said. “The people you see and the things you do are all small events that are so often overlooked. We’re trying to do something for other people by communicating truths about art and life, and Our Town is our way of bringing that to everyone.

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