Page 7 - Our Town Playbill

Director’s Note
D irect or ’ s N o t e

"Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it? Every, every minute?"
How would you answer Emily's question from Act III of Our Town?

Thornton Wilder’s play, Our Town, first appeared on Broadway in 1938 and won
the Pulitzer Prize that same year. This timeless drama of life in the mythical
village of Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire, has become an American classic
with universal appeal. But what is at the center of that appeal?

In Our Town, Wilder explores the beauty of simple life "in our living, in our
growing up, and in our dying." As I often remind my students, most of us will
not be written about in future encyclopedias. Few of us will grow up to develop
a cure for cancer, be the first to set foot on Mars, or serve as the 52 President
nd
of the United States. The simple fact is most of us will live our lives in what I call
"the small moments." The question is not whether we live and move and have
our being in small moments. The question is: Do we appreciate the moments we
have, every, every minute?

As the writer of Ecclesiastes says, "I know that nothing is better for them than
to rejoice, and to do good in their lives, and also that every man should eat and
drink and enjoy the good of all his labor—it is the gift of God." Eating breakfast,
telling patients to say "Ahhh," and delivering the newspaper; these are the
simple gifts explored in Our Town.

Or, as Paul said in his first epistle to Timothy, "I urge that supplications,
prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people . . . that we
may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way." Leading
dignified, peaceful, and quiet lives. Do we appreciate the value of that
every, every day?

Perhaps the point of Wilder's play is to teach us gratitude. True thankfulness
for the simple gifts and pleasures—and, yes, even the pains—of life that we
take for granted far too often.

So how would you answer Emily's question? Talk to me in the lobby after the
final curtain and let me know.

Michael J. McKenna, Director