Our Town

1.The play is narrated by the Stage Manager, who presents to the audience the everyday life of a small town called Grover's Corners. The action is set in three different acts, representing three moments in the lifes of some of the inhabitants of the town, Dr. Gibbs, Mrs. Gibbs, their neighbours Mr. Webb, Mrs. Webb, and the children George Gibbs and Emily Webb and he also presents some minor characters the author uses for different proposals. The two women, besides a friend of them, Mrs. Soames, used to gossip about the town people, specially about the alcoholism of the choirmaster Simon Stimson. George and Emily are beginning to feel attraction one for the other, as a preface of what will happen afterwards. The action is eventually interrupted by the Stage Manager, who introduces Professor Willard in order to tell some facts about Grover's Corners.

Three years later, George and Emily are getting married, there is a flashback in which George, a local baseball star gives up his career to stay at Grover's Corners with Emily. Nine years later, Emily has died in childbirth and is being buried at the cemetery. The dead souls of Mrs. Webb, Mrs. Soames and Simon Stimson are present. Emily's sul wish to relive his life, but she feel so agonized by the beauty of everyday life and the ignorance of that by the living that she wants to return to the cemetery.

2.When first reading the play, one can notice the minimalist style because the actors do not even interact with objects, they just pantomime their actions. The stage has always a few objects, some chairs, etc. There is no aim at representing the exact environment in which the play takes place.

We can see that it is an innovative play in many ways. The character of the Stage Manager, interacting with the audience and serving as a presenter of the action and even as a real actor in the story is a interesting point.

6.Wilder consider Grover's Corners as an epitome of the world itself. The town serves as a microcosm of human life. It is representative of every city, every town, every village. It is a timeless structure in which the town is the center of its universe. The author uses this comic resource to draw one of the most important themes in the play, the individuality, as the importance of the experience of the individual in everyday life.

7.The barrier between the audience and the action onstage is broken by the character of the Stage Manager. He serves as a guide to the audience, that immediately establish a link between themselves and him. The fact that the Stage Manager acts as the narrator and as an actor at the same time also emphasizes this connection. Indeed, through the Stage Manager, the interaction between the audience and the play actually becomes part of the