Dramatic Pause: On Opening Night of 'Our Town' at Duncan Smith Theater

At the opening night of Thornton Wilder's Our Town at the Duncan Smith Theater in Holmdel, the audience got to see an innovative re-telling of the quintessential American drama along with a reflection of themselves. 

“This is not your father's Our Town, said Director Michael Kroll, moments before the performance, which took place in the sparse, intimate 99-seat black box theater — an old converted barn.  “Usually this play is done with New England accents and period costumes," he added. "We've stripped everything away, basically, because the story could take place in New Hampshire, Ohio, Florida, anywhere in the United States."

Our Town is a meditation on life, its joys, sorrows, petty annoyances and profound questions. Members of the audience come to recognize themselves in the myriad mundane activities that occupy the characters' everyday lives: making breakfast, hustling the children off to school, cajoling your spouse into taking a vacation, gossiping with neighbors, and the universal preoccupation with the weather. 

Of course these quotidian concerns are punctuated by life's milestones: birth, falling in love, marriage, death, and what might lie beyond.

Inevitably, we're drawn in by the story's arc, reflecting on how our own daily details will finally accrue into a lifetime that's contained love, family, loss and, hopefully, meaning.

For Producer Rebecca Harris Flynn, the play's underlying themes still elicit emotion.

“When I first saw this play I literally left the theater and cried for forty-five minutes,” she said. “My big takeaway comes when a character who's died gets to return to her life for one day, and she's happy just to be together again with her family. It made me want to go home and hug my own family,” she said.

Harris Flynn wants audience members to leave the theater wanting to hug their loved ones too.

“We all have small lives, we're not all Obama,” she said with a smile. “Still, our lives are so precious and beautiful to us, so that's what I get out of the play. It's transforming.”

Two square tables with chairs anchor the fictional town of Grover's Corners and serve as the Webb and Gibbs family houses at the center of the performance space. The audience sits on three sides, inches from the action and sometimes a part of the action too. 

The Stage Manager, played commandingly by Eric Rolland, goes further than simply breaking the “fourth wall.” He asks the audience direct questions, sits among them, and hands out cards for people to pose questions to a character. One surprised woman quickly handed her card off to a friend to read aloud.

Props are minimal, too: a colander with string beans, bound school books. 

The actors wear everyday clothes, jeans, sweaters, flats, intentionally underscoring the message that we're all in this together, fictional characters and live audience, many of whom were also wearing jeans, sweaters and flats.

The entire cast is impressive.  They fully embody their characters, convincingly pantomiming the action and giving the audience members plenty of room to use their own imaginations.  

“This cast has worked extraordinarily hard on this piece,” said Kroll. “They've all individually embraced each characters and made it their own. They've become the citizens of Grover's Corners.”

True to its founding mission, the Holmdel Theatre Company offers dedicated high school theater students a chance to work alongside professional adult actors and directors, according to its website.

The current show features three Holmdel students: Peter Bushey, Nicholas Marchese, and the youngest actor, 14-year-old Satz student Rachel Brudner. Cast members Volney Stefflre and Matt Sockol are recent Holmdel High graduates.

The production also features longtime Holmdel resident Martin Brilliant, who, at 79, is the oldest cast member, and Jim Cusick, Charles Deitz, Laurie Devino, Mary Lawrence, Lynn Kroll, Bill Reinhard, Eric Rolland, Ricky Selterman, Joseph Shields, and Lindsay Wood.

“The message of the play is that life is fleeting, we're not here forever, so make the best of every single day no matter how ordinary it may seem to you,” said Kroll.“And this cast has learned, and I believe that the audience will walk away with an extraordinary experience."

For More Information

Performances will be held on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from April 1 to 9  at 8 p.m. with a matinée on Sunday, April 3, at 3 pm.

All performances are at the Duncan Smith Theater, 36 Crawfords Corner Rd., Holmdel, New Jersey in front of the Holmdel High School.  

Ticket prices are $22 general public ($17 for seniors and $12 for students). Reservations may be made by calling the box office at (212) 868-4444 or on our website at www.holmdeltheatrecompany.org.

ABOUT THE HOLMDEL THEATRE COMPANY
The Holmdel Theatre Company is an independent, privately funded theatre company dedicated to presenting classical plays as well as rarely presented dramas and comedies.  The Company seeks to integrate professional actors, technicians, designers and directors with non-professionals and young people in a synergistic artistic and educational exchange. This initiative is used in an effort to raise the level of performance and to help all performers grow artistically from the exposure to professionals in the field.
 
STUDENT OPPORTUNITIES AT THE HTC

There are many opportunities for students to become a part of the Holmdel Theatre Company.  The HTC casts roles for most of the main stage productions from students at the middle school and high school level.  They will also be looking for assistant stage managers, running crew, lighting board operators and many other technical positions for students interested in apprenticeships. If you would like to learn more about the opportunities available at the Holmdel Theatre Company, please visit the website at http://www.holmdeltheatrecompany.org.