OUR TOWN - Sharon Playhouse

Sharon Playhouse has mounted a wondrous production of OUR TOWN, my favorite American drama, and, arguably, one of the best plays of the last century. Director Andrus Nichols' conceptual approach to and staged vision of Thornton Wilder's drama are as accurate to the 1939 Pulitzer Prize play as they are authentic to the rustic nature of Playhouse's barn theatre. Nichols has brought a varied cast of professionals and local actors to even, ensemble pitch; an understated tenor sets the pace and mood. With spare set, little touches like off-stage sound effects create a world of small town New England life in the early 1900s. Nichols renders the most original staging of the cemetery scene in Act III I can recall, with the most sensitive, almost surreal, stage movement. Wilder's themes - family, nature, mortality - are timeless. If this drama doesn't prompt one to take a breath, nothing will. And, if it doesn't put a lump in your throat, you don't have a heart.