Initial Response and Preparation

Our Town, by Thornton Wilder, written in 1938, is a play centred around a small town called Grover’s Corners in New Hampshire. The play is made up of three acts that span twelve years, jumping forward each act. This excited me as character development between acts would have to be explored. 

On first read, what I took from Wilder’s Our Town was how few stage directions there were – this intrigued me as this provided freedom.

Before casting, I began uniting in order to structure the play in my head and understand it better, putting into practice my personal process defined in Year One. I created a family tree (see Image 1A) to help me follow the confusing character names as we moved through the process (not mixing up Gibb and Webb).

1A:

Casting and Character

Initially being cast as two characters was daunting as I knew I would have to put in extra time and effort to make both of them living, breathing and three-dimensional.

I struggled at first to apply my own process to the stage manager character (who acts as a narrator) since they don’t fit within the time period – an external figure often compared to God (so application of historical research would be tricky). I appreciated that the role was often played by acclaimed actors, such as Jim Parsons and Michael Sheen. Having been cast alongside three other women, I knew that our director’s vision was clearly to delve into the strength of a female-driven narrative, which intrigued me. 

Beth wanted the stage managers to be individually defined – Anna as Stage Manager, me as Deputy Stage Manager and Melanie and Caitlyn as Assistant Stage Managers. This made me feel I could put my own personal spin on it.

Accent

Historical/Social

The New Hampshire accent was going to be a challenge for me, as we had not yet studied it in year Two. I identified the accent to be a slightly softer New York accent with some more pronounced words (like ‘Boston’). With Lydia’s 1-to-1 help, I started to get my head around it, making notes above certain words that I needed to practise (as seen in image 2A). Working with actors in scenes and bouncing off their accent work helped immensely. Another process that worked well for me was improvising dialogue with friends outside of the text in the accent. 

2A:

Since the play is set across the early 1900s, we researched in and around this time period, as a class (2B).

New Hampshire was mainly Protestant (including all characters in Our Town). There was a large immigration population. However, I don’t think many characters (for example, Dr Gibbs) had any issue with integrating with other communities, e.g, Jewish Town.

Identifying the patriarchy and the fact that gender roles were rooted in the ‘cult of domesticity’, I understood that as a woman, your only career prospects would be to become a school teacher, a factory worker or a seamstress (on a fraction of the salary of men) – and obviously a housewife and mother which “was valued the most fulfilling essential of all women’s duties” (Cruea, 2005:188). This restriction means life cannot be lived to the fullest by girls like the naive Emily, who wants to ‘make speeches all her life’ as she says at the beginning of the play, but who realises the waste of her short life prior to her death at the end of the play.

Wilder tries to emphasise the parochialism of small towns like Grover’s Corners, with characters such as Joe Crowell saying that their teacher leaving to get married is the most ‘serious [thing] going on in the world’. Their ignorance of political upheavals such as the impending world war shows this small town mindset and ultimately how narrow their perspectives are.

Despite this, Wilder did not want to criticise small towns (like Grovers Corners), but rather, in response to the Great Depression, get the world to focus on human connection and thrive in the joy of the mundane. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) explores this beautifully and was a key reference for the world of the play.

2B:

Louella Soames

Stage Manager

Actioning Mrs Soames’ lines helped add nuance by varying her intentions. This meant I could still portray her gossiping nature, but it wasn’t her defining feature (see image 3A). 

Identifying an animal study for Louella as a meerkat helped embody her flighty and observant characteristics. 

Incorporating the prop of a purple scarf helped to bring out her femininity and differentiate her from my stage manager. I worked to develop a habit she may have: pulling the scarf closer to myself when she felt more uneasy. Implementing a prop early on in rehearsals helped me feel comfortable using it in performance.

Using Uta Hagen’s 22 questions helped me to dive into her character further (see Document 3B). I identified that she committed suicide (completely unreferenced in the text). This was caused by guilt from the gossip she spread about Simon Stimson, which I believe was more regular and excessive than mentioned in the text. By making her starkly horrid towards Simon, it allowed for a transformation in the final scene. In the graveyard, we see dead Louella and the guilt she has in relation to Simon. This development was really fun to play with, and I had to consider what characteristics continued with her to the grave and what changed (see image 3C). 

I wanted to bring to life the grave of Mrs Soames in the final scene, so I created a depiction of what her grave might have looked like (image 3D), its extravagance being definite, and its religious accents referencing her dedication to the choir.

Mrs Soames qsDownload

3C:

3D:

3E:

Rather than actioning every line (as a lot of the lines were fact-based), I found it easier to play a list of all actioning words that the stage manager might use (see image 3E). This gave me a pool of ideas that I could use in rehearsals and help with differentiating myself from the other stage managers. I also developed a super objective (see image 3F) and created a metaphor for her to personify: building a storm. This storm felt like something I could actually play and build throughout. Other movement considerations can be seen in Image 3G, considering factors such as Laban efforts.

I realised I would not only have to consider the stage managers’ relationships with every character and their judgment of each, but also their relationship with the audience, as they are in charge of them and generally have the most interaction with the audience (see image 3H). This was tricky to put into practice.

Using Uta Hagen’s questions (see document 3I) for the role of Stage Manager helped with identifying who she was in her 21st Century DSM role and her relationship with Anna (SM).

Rather than using animal studies, I decided that I’d like to lean into the mythical and magical element of the stage manager, so I did some research into different gods. I used the Egyptian god Ra (see image 3J).

I also compared the stage manager to the ghosts from A Christmas Carol (2025), which Beth referenced throughout the process. I am guiding Emily like the ghosts guide Scrooge. Taking inspiration helped with building a character because I could visualise them.

3G:

3H:

3I:

Stage manager qsDownload

3J:

Stage manager – Our TownDownload

Louella Soames

Stage Manager

Louella allowed me to apply my historical research and its effect on women such as her, which made a change to the stage manager, who was not a ‘character’ in the play. I believe she wasn’t meant for small-town life and wanted something bigger (a career). I believe she was also dissatisfied with her husband, which led her to her role – the town gossip. By justifying her actions, it made me empathise with her more as I felt she was not being served by Grovers Corners, and so resorted to gossip as she had nothing else. I find empathising with characters I play to be the best way of navigating them.

During one of the rehearsals, the director wanted me to lean into the performative and dramatic aspect of Louella and by doing so, lean into the comedy; however, I have always struggled with performing comedy as I find it the most exposing form of acting, so I needed to figure out how I could go bigger.

We had a workshopping day with the cast when the director was not in, and each actor got a turn at being given ideas and new objectives to play with. My new objective – to fancy Simon Stimson – did not work, but it brought out a playfulness in me. I found a new way of bringing some ‘loudness’ to her; for example, on one line I shouted it, stopped and then whispered it (see video 3K). This brought comedy to it and I got a laugh, which encouraged me. I found that heightening Louella’s reactions was actually less exposing, because it was taking the character further from me.

3K:

When we first discussed the role of stage manager with the director, I realised how similar they were to me. I realised that slipping into just being myself would be something I would have to work on. To try and get away from this, I studied the god Ra. This helped me play with Status, walking out with purpose into scenes (not wandering around), and holding a strong posture helped to distinguish the stage manager from myself. When introducing the rest of the cast onto the stage, I would use assertive nods to cue the actors; it helped create a sense of power, which is so removed from me.

During the opening, the stage managers paint the image of the town. I decided that what was most helpful for me was a visualisation of this that was coherent between all the stage managers, so I made a drawing of the town (see image 3L). Asserting myself and creating this diagram was something I thought the stage manager would do to be prepared for their moment on stage as narrator. I also made my own personal cue sheet, which I photocopied and placed on both sides of the stage, as the stage managers had the responsibility of moving all of the chairs in the scenes (see image 3M).

I struggled with distinguishing myself as stage manager of the 21st century cast of Our Town and stage manager who puts themselves into the story (20th Century). I made a side-by-side comparison between the more performative narrator and the stage manager offstage, who manages the play and is from the modern day (see image 3N).

I struggled with engaging the audience (the primary recipient of the information). I had a stronger relationship with the audience than any other actor on stage, so I had to try to make that clear. Beth told me that using specific moments to pick out members of the audience would be useful, so, for example, on my line ‘white-haired lady’, I directed it at an audience member (see video 3O). Also, making sure I wasn’t favouring one side, I tried turning more regularly to include both sides of the audience (traverse staging).