'Our Town' play comes to Laconia

LACONIA — The Pulitzer Prize winning play “Our Town” is coming to the Colonial Theatre this Friday. For the past several months, producer Brian Halperin, his wife Johanna Halperin and several dozen members of the community have been preparing for the Colonial’s first major play put on by the Powerhouse Theatre Collaborative. 

“It’s one of the most popular plays in the world,” said Halperin, “I haven’t always loved this play. 'Our Town' becomes different things to you at different times in your life. So 'Our Town' is a play that can grow on you even if you don’t respond to it the first time.”

Halperin said the play first “clicked” for him when watching a production of the play put on by his wife in Massachusetts during the 1990s. “I finally got it, it meant something to me,” Halperin said. He went on to direct his first production of "Our Town" in 2006. 

The play was originally written by Thornton Wilder in 1938, and follows the day-to-day lives and deaths of residents of the fictional small town of Grover’s Corner at the turn of the 20th Century. 

"Our Town" is a metatheatrical production, basically a play that knows it is a play. "Our Town" breaks the fourth wall and addresses the audience directly through a character called the stage manager. Traditionally, this role has been occupied by an older male. In Halperin’s production a local woman by the name of Heather Bullimore is taking on the role. 

“The idea is that a young female stage manager brings the show into the modern era, and gives the audience a new perspective to frame the play. Hearing the words come from a woman offers a different view,” Bullimore said. “It’s kind of an empowering thing for a woman to play the stage manager.” 

Bullimore works as a paralegal with hopes of going to law school, but she’s far from new to acting. “I have a master’s degree in theater performance and a bachelor’s in theater,” Bullimore said.

While the stage manager is a role that requires experience, there are plenty of other secondary characters that give actors of all experience levels a chance to participate.  

“Normal people who want to try theater, even if they’ve never done it before, there’s a way for them to be involved and contribute and see what the process is like,” Halperin said. “There’s also meatier roles for veteran actors who love the limelight and want to have a big acting challenge.”

In addition to providing new and veteran actors alike with opportunity, Halperin views "Our Town" as a very poignant play for our uncertain and fearful modern era.

“It's a play that communities tend to go towards in times of strife,” Halperin said. “There’s a comfort to it that reminds us that humanity has always been struggling. There’s always pain and loss. But what the ultimate message of the play is, is that life is beautiful and worth living.”

Since COVID-19, few Americans have been immune from the economic, social, political and medical fallout from the virus. Now that things are opening back up, Halperin sees extra opportunity to connect with the audience. 

“Coming out of the pandemic, there’s a lot to relate to in that we were shut up in little boxes on little screens for a year and a half, “Halperin said. “We’re starting to come back together and congregate in person. This play reminds us of what we’re missing.” 

"Our Town" premieres Friday, Nov. 19 at 7:30 PM. Tickets are available for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday's shows at coloniallaconia.com.