Theater in the Round

starting with Our Town

Dry eyes? Let me help. Thornton Wilder’s Our Town. The mention of that play is an instant eye lubricant.

At least that is the effect if you have seen a great production of the show. In the foreword to the Harper-Collins 2013 edition of Our Town Donald Margulies claims the 1988 Lincoln Center production as “an experience that remains one of the most memorable of my theatergoing life.”

He recalls, “I was so mesmerized by its subversive power, so warmed by its wisdom, so shattered by its third act, that I couldn’t believe it was the same play that I had known since childhood.” I would think that some of the play’s power comes from that reversal of opinion, if I hadn’t heard the same ecstatic sentiments from new-comers to the show.