Come Over Here - 1913 - West End Articles Page 5

Thornton Wilder's classic Our Town has been a part of my American cultural mindset since high school, practically all my life. And, of course, being a New Englander, it is not very hard to put myself into Grover's Corners, New Hampshire, even though the time period for the play 1901-1913 is about 30 + years before my existence. People are people and daily life was pretty much the same; things - except cars replacing horse and buggy - didn't really start changing until the middle of the 20th century. Now in this spaced out, high tech, faster-than-the-speed-of-light world we live in, it's nice to look back and see how it once was and reflect on what it maybe should be. On the Broad stage through February 12 only, David Cromer's fascinating staging puts his audience smack dab in the middle of the town and makes us believe we have time-traveled back to this simpler but just as psychologically complicated era. How inexpensive things cost, how people trusted one another, and how they amused themselves by reading, attending choir practice or actually conversing with one another instead of being glued to the TV set or sidetracked by other low quality, insignificant perversions! But there were some who just could not cope, like Mr. Stimson, the alcoholic choir director, who ended up committing suicide. We've all known people like him. So, the play is timeless. And somehow contemporary dress for the actors is not a hindrance to our accepting who and where they are, as it makes them like us, as we all fit together into one big macrocosm.

Thornton Wilder's classic Our Town has been a part of my American cultural mindset since high school, practically all my life. And, of course, being a New Englander, it is not very hard to put myself into Grover's Corners, New Hampshire, even though the time period for the play 1901-1913 is about 30 + years before my existence. People are people and daily life was pretty much the same; things - except cars replacing horse and buggy - didn't really start changing until the middle of the 20th century. Now in this spaced out, high tech, faster-than-the-speed-of-light world we live in, it's nice to look back and see how it once was and reflect on what it maybe should be. On the Broad stage through February 12 only, David Cromer's fascinating staging puts his audience smack dab in the middle of the town and makes us believe we have time-traveled back to this simpler but just as psychologically complicated era. How inexpensive things cost, how people trusted one another, and how they amused themselves by reading, attending choir practice or actually conversing with one another instead of being glued to the TV set or sidetracked by other low quality, insignificant perversions! But there were some who just could not cope, like Mr. Stimson, the alcoholic choir director, who ended up committing suicide. We've all known people like him. So, the play is timeless. And somehow contemporary dress for the actors is not a hindrance to our accepting who and where they are, as it makes them like us, as we all fit together into one big macrocosm.

Oscar winning Actress Helen Hunt and MacArthur Award-winning director David Cromer triumph in a landmark production of Thornton Wilder's Pulitzer Prize-winning Our Town that is '... probably the only production to enter the theater history books' (New York Times). The Broad Stage itself will be physically transformed, allowing for only 325 seats, to bring Grover's Corners, the play's every town USA, truly home. Forget nostalgic Americana or anything you recall from your high school production. Our Town has been reclaimed as the relevant and urgent work of art about living here and now, reminding us why it is a truly timeless - and timely - masterpiece. KCRW presents this production with Helen Hunt as the Stage Manager leading many of the original Chicago/New York cast in stripping away the myth and artifice to reveal what counts in Our Town and in ourselves.

It's powerful, it's moving, it's melodious, and it's true!

Lincoln Center Festival 2010 is sponsored by American Express. Lincoln Center Festival 2010 is also made possible by Nancy A. Marks, LuEsther T. Mertz Charitable Trust, Isilon Systems, The Skirball Foundation, The Harold & Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, The Katzenberger Foundation, Inc.

Academy Award-nominee Michael McKean is currently starring in the role of ‘The Stage Manager' in David Cromer's acclaimed production of Thornton Wilder's Our Town, at the Barrow Street Theatre.

Lincoln Center Festival 2010 is sponsored by American Express. Lincoln Center Festival 2010 is also made possible by Nancy A. Marks, LuEsther T. Mertz Charitable Trust, Isilon Systems, The Skirball Foundation, The Harold & Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, The Katzenberger Foundation, Inc.

I got my Equity card in 1954, when I was offered a job in a Broadway show, TONIGHT IN SAMARKAND starring Louis Jourdan...

Today, John McGrath, Artistic Director of National Theatre Wales announced the company's first year of work at a press briefing in Cardiff that was simultaneously broadcast to the world via the internet.

Click to watch this special video and read these interesting (and informative) quick facts to learn more about Washington Heights!

The Irish Repertory Theatre (132 West 22nd Street ) will present Tom Crean - Anarctic Explorer, written and performed by Aidan Dooley. Performances begin July 17, 2007 for a July 26 opening.

The Irish Repertory Theatre (132 West 22nd Street ) will present Tom Crean - Anarctic Explorer, written and performed by Aidan Dooley. Performances begin July 17, 2007 for a July 26 opening.