The Blog

American classic “Our Town” Opens Next!

The 2022-23 season opens with the poignant and revered play Our Town. Written by Thornton Wilder in 1938, Our Town won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and has been called “the greatest American play ever written.” A reflective drama about life, love, and what matters most to us, Our Town tells a timeless story of life we can all relate to. 

Through the lens of the Stage Manager, the play’s narrator, we see the day-to-day lives of next-door families the Webbs and the Gibbs, and their tight-knit small town of Grover’s Corner up close. When neighboring teenagers Emily Webb and George Gibbs take sweetly to each other, they have some choices to make about their priorities. A bit slice-of-life, a bit meta, Our Town immerses us in what makes life’s moments special and precious. We give this American classic a fresh approach and contemporary design to reflect our own town of Asheville, North Carolina today.

Artistic Director Robert Arleigh White is directing this production of Our Town. Bob says, “I’m excited about telling this story here in Asheville because there are so many things in the play that reflect the values of our town and our community. It’s a really universal story. It tells a lot about what it feels like to be a human being, to live in community, to go to school, to fall in love, and even to pass away. These times demand that we do something for our community and for our city that is reflective, maybe a bit somber, but also really sweet. We have very intentionally brought together new voices to tell this meaningful old story so that we can hear it again but in fresh ways.”

Our production of Our Town features some familiar ACT faces along with plenty of newcomers! The cast features: Elli Murray, Lily Nilo, Jayden Parton, Daniel Sandoval, Cori Search, Ruth Chapple, Lori Nierzwick, Tom Trauger, Everett Leggatt, Laura Walton, Mark Lieberman, Pasquale LaCorte, Ilze Zageris, Cara Pace, Catherine Gabe, Meghan Marcelo, and Daniel Canady. 

We are offering an ASL-interpreted performance on Saturday, October 8, 2022. For the ASL-interpreted performance, seating has been reserved for deaf and hard of hearing patrons in order to give the best sight lines to follow the interpretation and the action on stage.

Get your tickets for Our Town today!