BWW Preview: OUR TOWN Returns Home with Freshness at Princeton Day School

This Thursday night, the halls of Princeton Day School will be filled with the voices of a familiar cast of characters when the lights rise on the school's production of OUR TOWN. But if you think Thornton Wilder's 1938 drama is a sentimental time capsule, think again. Or rather take a cue from how Princeton Day School Artist in Residence Stan Cahill pronounces the title of this Pulitzer Prize-winning drama: Our Town. Emphasis on Our.

The reimagining flows from there. With a mobile lighting board and sound system, Cahill, whose theatre program is a familiar recipient of Paper Mill Playhouse's Rising Star Awards and is the first New Jersey school to earn top distinction from Stage Directions magazine, sets the plot in motion throughout the school. Take a seat in the school's "Gymateria" to see Act I unfold, matching Wilder's story of growing up with the lower school's multipurpose room. Head over to the older students' campus center for George and Emily's wedding. And come home to the school's McAneny theater for Act III, a place of reckoning for the school community and the characters of Grover's Corners.

Rehearsing throughout the communal spaces of the school has been a test of the troupe's authenticity, Cahill says. "People sit around and watch. If you're bad, they go back to doing homework." But when you're good, they say what one observant student said after watching a scene: "I feel like crying. I don't know why..."

It's been nearly fifty years since a production of OUR TOWN has been performed at Princeton Day School, an independent coeducational school for students pre-K through grade 12. A young Christopher Reeve (PDS Class of '70) played the role of Wally Webb in the school production before his spectacular rise to Superman fame. And the play had its world premier just a few miles down the road at Princeton's McCarter theatre.

Cahill will perform along side his students for the first time in his PDS tenure, playing the role of Stage Manager and giving him a dual perspective as what he calls their spirit guide as teacher and instigator of the action on stage. "There are hard lessons...there will be more after you, and there were a bunch who came before you," he says, speaking about both the play and the school's legacies. As for the enduring nature of OUR TOWN, Cahill says, "I think it's a play that should be running all the time. 'I used to be George and now I'm not even Mr. Morgan the shopkeeper.'"

A standard like OUR TOWN is a departure for Cahill, whose PDS productions include THE LARAMIE PROJECT, RADIUM GIRLS, and URINETOWN. But he says the students are absolutely absorbed by the work. "We have something here. It's kind of cool. It's different. It's brand new." He tells the cast and crew, "This is the moment. Breathe it in because it's gone soon. That's not sentiment. That just is."

OUR TOWN by Thornton Wilder at Princeton Day School's McAneny Theater directed by Rajiv Potluri. 650 Great Rd, Princeton, NJ. Runs November 5 and 6 at 7:30pm and November 7 at 2 pm and 7:30pm. Tickets are $18 for adults and $15 for students. To purchase, please visit www.pds.org/boxoffice.

Photo credit: courtesy of Princeton Day School.