turning His Town into Our Town

Our Town needs a casting caveat

Thornton Wilder named this play Our Town. In 1935, when he wrote the play, it was not the custom to tell directors how they ‘must’ cast a show. Do the words “Our” and “Town” imply a casting ‘must’?

If you are going to produce Our Town you must have a cast that reflects your town;

and then the reverse,

if you cannot get a cast together that reflects your town, then you cannot produce this show?

or, Then you must change the name of the show to His Town, like Hilton Als did for the review of the Cromer production. The word ‘our’ draws a circle around everyone in building, cast+audience, in the collective ‘our’. Mr.Als clearly felt that circle swerved to exclude him.