∎ [PDF] Free Our Town A Play in Three Acts Perennial Classics Thornton Wilder Donald Margulies 9780060512637 Books

Our Town A Play in Three Acts Perennial Classics Thornton Wilder Donald Margulies 9780060512637 Books

Download As PDF : Our Town A Play in Three Acts Perennial Classics Thornton Wilder Donald Margulies 9780060512637 Books

Our Town A Play in Three Acts Perennial Classics Thornton Wilder Donald Margulies 9780060512637 Books

…When a dog could sleep in the middle of Main Street all day, unmolested.

I’ve read, and even re-read Thornton Wilder’s The Bridge of San Luis Rey. But that is the only one of his that I have actually read, though I had seen “Our Town” produced, yes, in high school. I figured an actual reading of the play was long overdue. Donald Margulies has written one of the best Forwards ever, in terms of “drawing the reader in,” to this play, or any other. “Welcome – or welcome back – to ‘Our Town,’” as he concludes. He commences by indicating the reader’s first exposure was probably in late grade school, or high school, with portions of this play being sandwiched in an anthology with selections from John Steinbeck and Edith Wharton. Our opinions of the play have been shaped from the “school assignment era.” He urges the reader to re-consider now that they are old enough, with actual life experiences, to truly understand the inherent beauty of the play, and I would agree.

The town in question is Grover’s Corner, New Hampshire. It is the turn of the century – the LAST century… 1901. A small town, with a population of only some 2,000 plus. In the play, an additional two are added, since Dr. Gibbs delivered twins. Nominally, it panders to the longing of many an American, for a simpler time in our heritage, before “active shooter drills” became de rigueur. Purportedly there was a spike in productions of this play after 9-11. Occupations that no longer exist are depicted throughout the play: the milkman, the paperboy who walks from house to house, and even the good doctor, who makes house calls. A much more electronically disconnected, measured pace of life… where even the dog could sleep on Main Street.

In reading it though, there is so much more, just below the surface that make the play one that addresses eternal human concerns. The three acts each focus on one key aspect of life: daily life, marriage, and death. Wilder uses the “Stage Manager” as a “Greek Chorus,” omniscient, that informs the audience of the “befores and afters,” in a succinct, crisp, matter-of-fact New England sentence or two. That energetic newspaper boy, for example, would go on to be the town’s most brilliant student, graduating from MIT, but then he “died in France,” during the Great War. Nostalgia for the past is dampened with the knowledge that women would routinely die during child birth during these “simpler times.”

A few of Wilder’s observations on life are worth repeating (and remembering!): “All those good women standing shoulder to shoulder making sure that the knot’s tied in a mighty public way.” On fighting for one’s country: “Over there are some Civil War veterans. Iron flags on the graves…New Hampshire boys… had a notion the Union ought to be kept together, though they’d never seen more than fifty miles of it themselves.” And on fleeting life itself: “You know how it is: you’re twenty-one or twenty-two and you make some decisions; then whisssh! You’re seventy” you’ve been a lawyer for fifty years, and that white-haired lady at your side has eaten over fifty thousand meals with you.”

Oh, and that dog on Main Street, and nostalgia. He could actually sleep there in a prior era… BEFORE 1901, because the pace of life has been picking up, you understand. A good play to read or view, several times in life. 5-stars.


Tags : Our Town: A Play in Three Acts (Perennial Classics) [Thornton Wilder, Donald Margulies] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Our Town</i> was first produced and published in 1938 to wide acclaim. This Pulitzer Prize&#150;winning drama of life in the town of Grover 's Corners,Thornton Wilder, Donald Margulies,Our Town: A Play in Three Acts (Perennial Classics),Harper Perennial Modern Classics,0060512636,American - General,General,City and town life,City and town life;Drama.,Death,Domestic drama,New Hampshire,New Hampshire;Drama.,Young women,Young women;Drama.,DRAMA American General,DRAMA General,Dance & other performing arts,Drama,Drama : General,FICTION Literary,FICTION Small Town & Rural,General Adult,Non-Fiction,Plays,Plays Drama,REFERENCE General,United States,WILDER, THORNTON, 1897-1975,Thornton wilder; thorton wilder; wilder; thornton; our town; classic; fiction classics; play; a play in three acts; play; Donald Margulies; Margulies; 1938; published in 1938; 1930s fiction; fiction from the 1930s; 20th century fiction; twentieth century fiction; Pulitzer prize winner; American life; American history; us life; usa life; small town life; fiction about small town life; fiction about real americans; blue collar; blue collar America; lower class; working class; social status; family story; small town; rural America; family; struggles; working class struggle; privilege; male author; male writer; playwright; the bridge of san luis rey; culture; us culture; American culture; social structure; human experience; common experience; American dream; classic; American classic; literary

Our Town A Play in Three Acts Perennial Classics Thornton Wilder Donald Margulies 9780060512637 Books Reviews

Thornton Wilder wrote that part of his motivation in writing Our Town was to illustrate that even the seemingly mundane moments of our daily lives have value beyond price.

I think that it Our Town, Wilder succeeds in showing that each and every day has meaning and significance. Emily's good-bye speech is among the best soliloquies in all of American theatre, and the love between Emily and George is sweet in its timelessness.

I am a middle school language arts teacher and I do an entire Thornton Wilder unit each year. I am always moved by how this play speaks to both eighth grade students and adults. I find that it means more to me as I get older and begin to see, as Emily did, that we often fail to embrace life as fully as we should.
If you like Thornton Wilder, then you will like this collection of plays. Our Town is a quiet, thoughtful play about love, death and fate, but is not grisly, macabre or even sad; in fact it is quite upbeat given the subject matter. The Matchmaker is the play that the movie Hello Dolly was based on. Originally called A Merchant of Yonkers, the name was later changed and it was first made into a movie called The Matchmaker with Shirley Booth, from the TV show Hazel, in the lead role. It is fun in the style of a farce, but with some insightful observations of people and society, as you would expect from Wilder. The Skin of Our Teeth is a pretty bizarre play in which a family of early Humans living in the north-east of North America deal with an impending ice age and summarise the history of mankind in the course of 3 acts. It is a lot of fun, if you like trying to pick up all the historical references (like the maid called Sabine), but might be frustrating to those who like more straightforward storytelling. (For any Australians reading this, this last play was also apparently the inspiration for the Hunters and Collectors song called Skin of Our Teeth.)
…When a dog could sleep in the middle of Main Street all day, unmolested.

I’ve read, and even re-read Thornton Wilder’s The Bridge of San Luis Rey. But that is the only one of his that I have actually read, though I had seen “Our Town” produced, yes, in high school. I figured an actual reading of the play was long overdue. Donald Margulies has written one of the best Forwards ever, in terms of “drawing the reader in,” to this play, or any other. “Welcome – or welcome back – to ‘Our Town,’” as he concludes. He commences by indicating the reader’s first exposure was probably in late grade school, or high school, with portions of this play being sandwiched in an anthology with selections from John Steinbeck and Edith Wharton. Our opinions of the play have been shaped from the “school assignment era.” He urges the reader to re-consider now that they are old enough, with actual life experiences, to truly understand the inherent beauty of the play, and I would agree.

The town in question is Grover’s Corner, New Hampshire. It is the turn of the century – the LAST century… 1901. A small town, with a population of only some 2,000 plus. In the play, an additional two are added, since Dr. Gibbs delivered twins. Nominally, it panders to the longing of many an American, for a simpler time in our heritage, before “active shooter drills” became de rigueur. Purportedly there was a spike in productions of this play after 9-11. Occupations that no longer exist are depicted throughout the play the milkman, the paperboy who walks from house to house, and even the good doctor, who makes house calls. A much more electronically disconnected, measured pace of life… where even the dog could sleep on Main Street.

In reading it though, there is so much more, just below the surface that make the play one that addresses eternal human concerns. The three acts each focus on one key aspect of life daily life, marriage, and death. Wilder uses the “Stage Manager” as a “Greek Chorus,” omniscient, that informs the audience of the “befores and afters,” in a succinct, crisp, matter-of-fact New England sentence or two. That energetic newspaper boy, for example, would go on to be the town’s most brilliant student, graduating from MIT, but then he “died in France,” during the Great War. Nostalgia for the past is dampened with the knowledge that women would routinely die during child birth during these “simpler times.”

A few of Wilder’s observations on life are worth repeating (and remembering!) “All those good women standing shoulder to shoulder making sure that the knot’s tied in a mighty public way.” On fighting for one’s country “Over there are some Civil War veterans. Iron flags on the graves…New Hampshire boys… had a notion the Union ought to be kept together, though they’d never seen more than fifty miles of it themselves.” And on fleeting life itself “You know how it is you’re twenty-one or twenty-two and you make some decisions; then whisssh! You’re seventy” you’ve been a lawyer for fifty years, and that white-haired lady at your side has eaten over fifty thousand meals with you.”

Oh, and that dog on Main Street, and nostalgia. He could actually sleep there in a prior era… BEFORE 1901, because the pace of life has been picking up, you understand. A good play to read or view, several times in life. 5-stars.