‘Our Town’ brings NH to Broadway

Thornton Wilder just figured it out. We return to “Our Town” again. And again. This time, the New Hampshire beloved icon returns to Broadway.

Grover’s Corners (inspired by Peterborough) located “just across the Massachusetts line: latitude 42 degrees 40 minutes; longitude 70 degrees 37 minutes,” is the setting for “Our Town.” Thornton Wilder’s Pultizer winning play was first produced at the McCarter Theater in Princeton, New Jersey, 1938. Through the stage manager, who is speaking onstage and not working from behind the curtain, the audience is given a lens on everyday life in a small community, as life in Peterborough, New Hampshire might have been.

Thornton Wilder had spent time in Peterborough as a fellow at the MacDowell Colony (1924-53) while he was writing “Our Town.” The play premiered at a theater in Princeton, New Jersey in January 1938 and then moved to the Wilbur Theater in Boston, before making it to Broadway in New York. “Our Town” received the Pulitzer Prize for drama and is now recognized as perhaps one of, if not the greatest American play and we could feel the sense of place.

In August 2021, I was fortunate enough to attend a production of “Our Town” by the Peterborough Players performed in downtown Peterborough. It was a memorable evening as the theater had been dark for a year because of the pandemic.

I wrote about “Our Town” after reading Ann Patchett’s “Tom Lake” (Harper Collins, 2023) over the summer. The story is wrapped around three plays, “Our Town” by Thornton Wilder, “The Cherry Orchard” by Anton Chekhov, and “Fool for Love” by Sam Shepard.

And I recorded a podcast with Bryan Halperin, the co-producer and director of “Our Town” at the Colonial Theatre; and Howard Sherman, a theater manager, writer, and the author of “Another Day’s Begun: Thornton Wilder’s ‘Our Town’ in the 21st Century” (Methuen Drama, 2021) when “Our Town” was performed in Laconia.

Now I’m writing about “Our Town” again, because it’s on Broadway and receiving rave reviews. I was fortunate to attend with a group of trustees and fellows from the MacDowell Colony. At the end of the performance, the audience was on their feet – something that doesn’t always happen.

Two women who work at the MacDowell Colony artists’ residence drove down from New Hampshire for the performance. The cast previously traveled to Peterborough and visited MacDowell. One of the women told me with a smile, “They called in Con – cord, not Concord. We helped them understand New Hampshire.”

Tony Award-winning director Kenny Leon, who grew up in a small town — though not in Wilder’s New England but in the American south — directed and adapted the play. His previous work included, “Purlie Victorious,” “A Soldier’s Play,” and “Children of a Lesser God,” to name just a few.

Leon was given the permission by Tappan Wilder to adapt the play for Broadway in the 21st Century and he writes in the director’s notes:

“…Mr. Wilder mentions the word ‘time’ over three times in the play, so time became important. …The play is most certainly a metaphor for time spent on the planet in America. What if we let 1901 be inclusive and representative of all the time since the birth of our country up until the present day. …He encourages directors to use minimal props, to more effectively engage the audience’s imagination. Without props, what is left on our human journey? Love, daily life, family, pain, joy, marriage … we all wrestle with these universals, only the props change over time.”

As we gather to celebrate Thanksgiving next week, you might want to re-read “Our Town” and remember it’s “important not to spend and waste time as though you had a million years.” Savor the time you have with your family and your friends and your colleagues, as you savor and enjoy a bountiful feast.

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Elizabeth Howard is the host of the Short Fuse Podcast, found on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or through the Arts Fuse. Her career intersects journalism, marketing, and communications. “Ned O’Gorman: A Glance Back,” a book she edited, was published in May 2016. She is the author of “A Day with Bonefish Joe,” a children’s book, published by David R. Godine. You can send her a note at: eh@elizabethhoward.com.