Welcome to Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire, a small American town in the early 1900s. Your guide is the Stage Manager, who breaks the fourth wall to introduce the people, places, and daily life of the town. Act One shows the simple routines, breakfast, school, gossip. Act Two jumps to weddings, focusing on the love story of George Gibbs and Emily Webb. Act Three takes us to the cemetery, where Emily, now among the dead, revisits a day in her life and realizes how much beauty is hidden in ordinary moments. Performed with almost no scenery, Our Town is about love, life, death, and the importance of noticing the everyday before it’s gone.
- Date Written: 1937
- Genre: Drama; often described as a metatheatrical play and American classic
- Mood/Tone: Reflective, poignant, bittersweet, occasionally humorous
- First Performed: January 22, 1938, McCarter Theatre, Princeton, New Jersey (Broadway debut: February 4, 1938, Henry Miller’s Theatre, New York City)
- Number of Characters: Around 20 named roles, plus ensemble townspeople (often doubled or tripled by actors)