History Theatre / OurTown

Winner of the UsefulNotes/PulitzerPrize for 1938. It was made into a motion picture in 1940, which was directed by Sam Wood, starred a young Creator/WilliamHolden as George, and was adapted by Thornton Wilder from his own play. Frank Craven and Martha Scott reprised their roles from the original Broadway production as the Stage Manager and Emily, respectively; Creator/ThomasMitchell played Dr. Gibbs. None other than Music/AaronCopland himself composed the music. It received six UsefulNotes/AcademyAward nominations, including one for Best Picture.

* AfterlifeAntechamber: The Grover's Corners cemetery. The spirits of the dead wait around there for a while, waiting for "for the eternal part in them to come out clear," as the Stage Manager puts it. Eventually they shed their earthly concerns--Emily's mother-in-law seems to have half-forgotten who Emily is--and move on. When Emily arrives the souls in the cemetery are from the last generation or two, with the older souls having already gone somewhere else. See also TheNothingAfterDeath below.

* TheNothingAfterDeath: Maybe. What happens to the dead after the "eternal" part of them comes out, as the Stage Manager explains? We never find out, but we do know that they move on and leave the cemetery. See AfterlifeAntechamber above.

* GenderNeutralNarrator: The Stage Manager's gender is unspecified. He/she briefly assumes three roles--two male (Mr. Morgan the druggist, and the minister who marries George and Emily) and one female (Mrs. Forrest, a woman of the town).

-->--'''Emily'''

* {{Minimalism}}: The play is specifically directed to be staged with bare-bones scenery and props that are either pantomimed or simple household objects such as chairs and stepladders. This is doubtless one of the reasons it's so popular as a {{School Play|s}}.

* WeddingDay: Act II.

* IWasQuiteALooker: "I was the prettiest girl in town next to Mamie Cartwright", says Mrs. Webb, in response to a direct question from Emily as to whether she was pretty when she was young.

* AfterlifeAntechamber: The Grover's Corners cemetery. The spirits of the dead wait around there for a while, waiting for "for the eternal part in them to come out clear," as the Stage Manager puts it. Eventually they shed their earthly concerns--Emily's mother seems to have half-forgotten who Emily is--and move on. When Emily arrives the souls in the cemetery are from the last generation or two, with the older souls having already gone somewhere else. See also TheNothingAfterDeath below.

Winner of the UsefulNotes/PulitzerPrize for 1938. It was made into a motion picture in 1940, which was directed by Sam Wood, starred a young Creator/WilliamHolden as George, and was adapted by Thornton Wilder from his own play. Frank Craven and Martha Scott reprised their roles from the original Broadway production as the Stage Manager and Emily, respectively; Creator/ThomasMitchell played Mr. Gibbs. None other than Music/AaronCopland himself composed the music. It received six UsefulNotes/AcademyAward nominations, including one for Best Picture.

Winner of the UsefulNotes/PulitzerPrize for 1938. It was made into a motion picture in 1940, which was directed by Sam Wood, starred a young Creator/WilliamHolden as George, and was adapted by Thornton Wilder from his own play. Frank Craven and Martha Scott reprised their roles from the original Broadway production as the Stage Manager and Emily, respectively; Creator/ThomasMitchell played Mr. Gibbs. None other than Music/AaronCopland himself composed the music. It received four UsefulNotes/AcademyAward nominations.

Winner of the UsefulNotes/PulitzerPrize for 1938. It was made into a motion picture in 1940, which was directed by Sam Wood, starred a young Creator/WilliamHolden as George, and was adapted by Thornton Wilder from his own play. Frank Craven and Martha Scott reprised their roles from the original Broadway production as the Stage Manager and Emily, respectively; Creator/ThomasMitchell played Mr. Gibbs. None other than Creator/AaronCopland himself composed the music. It received four UsefulNotes/AcademyAward nominations.

Winner of the UsefulNotes/PulitzerPrize for 1938. It was made into a motion picture in 1940, which was directed by Sam Wood, starred a young Creator/WilliamHolden as George, and was adapted by Thornton Wilder from his own play. Frank Craven and Martha Scott reprised their roles from the original Broadway production as the Stage Manager and Emily, respectively. None other than Creator/AaronCopland himself composed the music. It received four UsefulNotes/AcademyAward nominations.

* TheNothingAfterDeath: A strange, debatable example. The dead are waiting "for the eternal part in them to come out clear," as the Stage Manager puts it. It seems as if the dead in Grover's Corners are waiting to move on to some other plane, that they are in a kind of purgatory. It's worth noting that the souls in the cemetery are all relatively recently dead, from the last couple of generations. Older souls have moved on.

* HollywoodGeography: The coordinates given for Grover's Corners would actually put you in the ocean just off the coast of Massachusetts. Hard to say if this is Wilder being sloppy with a map or Wilder not wanting to identify Grover's Corners with any real town.

* MediumAwareness: The first line of the play, delivered by the Stage Manager, is "This play is called [[TitleDrop Our Town]]." He then rattles off the names of the director and the cast.

* NoCommuntitiesWereHarmed: Grover's Corners is [[http://www.twildersociety.org/works/our-town/ pretty much accepted to have been based on]] [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peterborough,_New_Hampshire Peterborough, New Hampshire]], where Wilder wrote the first two acts.

''Our Town'' is a three act play written by Creator/ThorntonWilder in 1938, set in the fictional community of Grover's Corners.

* MentalTimeTravel: Emily goes back to a birthday when she was young

* ThisLoserIsYou: The pessimistic way to interpret the play's ending: You do not (and as per the quotes above, possibly ''can'' not) adequately appreciate each moment of your life. (Optimistically, it's just an {{Aesop}} about appreciating your life ''more'').

* MediumAwareness: The first line of the play, delivered by the Stage Manager, is "This play is called [[TitleDrop Our Town]]". He then rattles off the names of the director and the cast.

* TheNothingAfterDeath: A strange, debatable example. The dead are waiting "for the eternal part in them to come out clear," as the Stage Manager puts it. It seems as if the dead in Grover's Corners are waiting to move on to some other plane, that they are in a kind of purgatory. It's worth noting that the souls in the cemetery are all relatively recent dead, from the last couple of generations. Older souls have moved on.

''Our Town'' follows a few of the major characters through the important days of their lives. The first act, "A Day in the Life", introduces George Gibbs and Emily Webb, their families, and several other Grover's Corners inhabitants as they go through a typical day in their lives. The second act, "Love and Marriage", illustrates George and Emily's budding romance and eventual marriage. The third act, "Death", plays through a funeral.

The second-most common SchoolPlay on television, behind ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet''.

* GainaxEnding: The first two acts are a SliceOfLife romance, and then the third act begins in a cemetery and reveals that several characters have died, most recently Emily. The afterlife is spent sitting on your grave among the recently dead, able to remember your life with perfect clarity-at first. Memories and the emotional bonds to family and friends are gradually lost as time goes on. However, the Stage Manager says that the dead are waiting for some "eternal" aspect of themselves to emerge once earthly concerns are shed; where the spirit goes afterwards is not explained, but the dead do gain a new and intense appreciation for life, and mourn that the living do not share it.

''Our Town'' is a three act play written by Thornton Wilder in 1938, set in the fictional community of Grover's Corners.

!This play provides examples of:

* GenderNeutralNarrator: The Stage Manager's gender is unspecified. However, the Stage Manager does briefly assume two male roles--Mr. Morgan, who owns the drugstore, and the minister who marries George and Emily.