Stagg Drama Club presents 'Our Town'

PALOS HILLS – Stagg High School Drama Club presents its fall play, “Our Town” by Thornton Wilder, at 7 p.m. Nov. 5 to 7 in the Performing Arts Center at the high school, 8015 W. 111th St.

To enhance the performances, seating will be provided on three sides of the action, including on stage. This unique arrangement allows the audience to have a more intimate connection to the show. It also gives actors experience in performing on a thrust stage, in which audience members are on the sides of the performance space as well as in front of it. Chicago Shakespeare Theater is another example of a thrust stage.

Tickets cost $6 for adults, $5 for students and $3 for senior citizens and children. To reserve tickets, e-mail tickets@staggpac.org or call (708) 974-7545. Tickets also are sold the day of the show. The box office opens at 6 p.m.

“Our Town,” which earned the Pulitzer Prize in 1938, tells the story of the fictional small town of Grover’s Corners, N.H., and the people who live there. The central characters of this play within a play are the stage manager, who helps run a play starring George Gibbs, a doctor’s son, and Emily Webb, a newspaper editor’s daughter, who fall in love and marry. Disaster strikes when Emily has a baby, and the final act features her funeral procession and musings about life, set in the town’s graveyard.

Although the three-act play is traditionally performed with no scenery, Stagg’s technical crew has built sets to enhance the show. “The scenery we have is the typical scenery that is used for the show, but all built by the students, like benches and tables,” said Auditorium Director Brandon Lewis.

“I picked the show because I thought it would be a good acting challenge, a good show for tech students to focus on small and detailed things instead of large sets,” Lewis said. “A classic show like this is great for the education of the students and audiences.”