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Our Town - Auditions

Monday, August 8, 2016 - 5:00pm
Tuesday, August 9, 2016 - 5:00pm

META Performing Arts hosts auditions for:

Our Town
A play by Thornton Wilder
Directed by Maura Marlin
Movement and Mime Choreography by Michael Marlin
Produced by Seth Fine

Auditions will be held at the Historic Licoln Theatre on: 
Monday, August 8th 5:00pm-6:45pm 
Tuesday, August 9th from 5:00-6:45pm 
*additional auditions may be scheduled with the Director, Maura Marlin, (mmmarlins@gmail.com) by appointment prior to audition dates.

Bring a prepared monologue 
Ages 7 and up...

Play runs October 28th- November 13 at the
Historic Lincoln Theatre 

OUR TOWN Cast List
Stage Manager – a narrator, commentator, and guide through Grover's Corners. He joins in the action of the play periodically, as the minister at the wedding, the soda shop owner, a local townsmen, etc., and speaks directly to Emily after her death.
Emily Webb – one of the main characters; we follow her from a precocious young girl through her wedding to George Gibbs and her early death.

George Gibbs – the other main character; the boy next door, a kind but irresponsible teenager who matures over time and becomes a responsible husband, father and farmer.

Frank Gibbs – George's father, the town doctor

Julia (Hersey) Gibbs – George's mother. She dreams of going to Paris, but doesn't get there. She saved $350 for the trip from the sale of an antique furniture piece, but ultimately willed it to George and Emily. Dies while visiting her daughter in Ohio.

Charles Webb – Emily's father, editor of the Grover's Corners Sentinel

Myrtle Webb – Emily's mother

Joe and Si Crowell – local paperboys. Joe's intelligence earns him a full scholarship to MIT where he graduates at the top of his class. His promise will be cut short on the fields of France during World War I, according to the Stage Manager. Both he and his brother Si hold marriage in high disdain.

Simon Stimson – the choir director and church organist. We never learn the specific cause of his alcoholism and suicide, although Dr. Gibbs observes that "He's seen a pick of troubles." He remains bitter and cynical even beyond the grave.

Howie Newsome – the milkman, a fixture of Grover's Corners.

Rebecca Gibbs – George's younger sister. Later elopes with a traveling salesman and settles in Ohio.

Wally Webb – Emily's younger brother. Dies of a burst appendix on a Boy Scout camping trip.

Professor Willard – a rather long-winded lecturer

Woman in Auditorium – concerned with temperance

Man in Auditorium – concerned with social justice

Another Woman in Auditorium – concerned with culture and beauty

Mrs. Louella Soames – a gossipy townswoman and member of the choir

Constable Bill Warren – the policeman

Two Baseball Players – who mock George at the wedding

Joe Stoddard – the undertaker

Sam Craig – a nephew of Mrs Gibbs who left town to seek his fortune. He came back after 12 years in Buffalo for Emily's funeral.

Dead Man

Dead Woman

Mr. Carter

Farmer McCarty

Bessie – Howie Newsome's horse (visible to the characters, but not the audience)

Children & Townspeople- no lines, but learn movement/ mime/ tableau methods

OUR TOWN Play Summary
Act I: Daily Life
The Stage Manager introduces the audience to the small town of Grover's Corners, New Hampshire, and the people living there as a morning begins in the year 1901. Professor Willard speaks to the audience about the history of the town. Joe Crowell delivers the paper to Doc Gibbs, Howie Newsome delivers the milk, and the Webb and Gibbs households send their children (Emily and George, respectively) off to school on this beautifully simple morning.

Act II: Love and Marriage
Three years have passed, and George and Emily prepare to wed. The day is filled with stress. Howie Newsome is delivering milk in the pouring rain while Si Crowell, younger brother of Joe, laments how George's baseball talents will be squandered. George pays an awkward visit to his soon-to-be in-laws. Here, the Stage Manager interrupts the scene and takes the audience back a year, to the end of Emily and George's junior year. Emily confronts George about his pride, and over an ice cream soda, they discuss the future and their love for each other. George resolves not to go to college, as he had planned, but to work and eventually take over his uncle's farm. In the present, George and Emily say that they are not ready to marry - George to his mother, Emily to her father - but they both calm down and happily go through with the wedding.

Act III: Death and Dying

Nine years have passed. The Stage Manager opens the act with a lengthy monologue emphasizing eternity, bringing the audience's attention to the cemetery outside of town and the characters who have died since the wedding, including Mrs. Gibbs (pneumonia, while traveling), Wally Webb (burst appendix, while camping), Mrs. Soames, and Simon Stimson (suicide by hanging). Town undertaker Joe Stoddard is introduced, as is a young man named Sam Craig who has returned to Grover's Corners for his cousin's funeral. That cousin is Emily, who died giving birth to her and George's second child. Once the funeral ends, Emily emerges to join the dead; Mrs. Gibbs urges her to forget her life, but she refuses. Ignoring the warnings of Simon, Mrs. Soames, and Mrs. Gibbs, Emily returns to Earth to relive one day, her 12th birthday. The memory proves too painful for her, and she realizes that every moment of life should be treasured. When she asks the Stage Manager if anyone truly understands the value of life while they live it, he responds, "No. The saints and poets, maybe - they do some." Emily returns to her grave next to Mrs. Gibbs and watches impassively as George kneels weeping over her. The Stage Manager concludes the play and wishes the audience a good night.