Our Town is regularly found on lists of the most influential or greatest plays. I recently asked my students why they felt that Our Town was considered one of the most influential plays ever written. I will share with you my thoughts.
Our Town shows us in it's unbelievable simplicity the importance of life. The importance of family and the importance of just slowing down and paying attention. In addition, it expresses truth that every human being knows and feels deep down that there is an eternality and importance to what we do in this life. A character in the show explains,
We all know that something is eternal. And it ain’t houses and it ain’t names, and it ain’t earth, and it ain’t even the stars . . . everybody knows in their bones that something is eternal, and that something has to do with human beings. All the greatest people ever lived have been telling us that for five thousand years and yet . . . people are always losing hold of it. There’s something way down deep that’s eternal about every human being.
We keep losing hold of it. Over and over again. A young student and close friend of mine recently lost their father. When I first heard, I was in a run through rehearsal for this show. I thought of all of these things, and I cried. I cried because even though we may know and believe in eternal life, there are so many things that we just don't understand.
"They don't understand, do they?"
"No, dear. They don't understand."
As you watch this show we encourage you to ponder why you feel this show is considered one of the greatest plays ever written. We also encourage you to forget anything you've ever known about this play or previous experiences you may have had and TRY to understand just a little bit more.
Thank you for supporting the Theatre Department at Liahona.
Jordan Long
Director
