"Our Town" comes back to the Pasadena Playhouse.

Our Town at the Pasadena Playhouse. Photo by Earl. E Gibson III.

Our Town  by Thornton Wilder
Sep 26 – Oct 22, 2017
Directed by Sheryl Kaller
Co-Produced with Deaf West Theatre

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History

Wilder’s journal notes for 1935 include ideas for ten plays, among them “M Marries N” (an early working title for Our Town). He began to work in earnest on the play in 1936 after resigning from his post as a part-time visiting lecturer in Classics and Writing at the University of Chicago.

After short try-outs in Princeton and Boston, the play opened on Broadway on February 4, 1938 to mostly favorable reviews, with Wilder playing the role of the Stage Manager for two weeks of the play’s run in September. Our Town garnered Wilder a second Pulitzer Prize and the play became a classic not only in American theatre, but in classrooms across the country. 

Thornton Wilder, Our Town: A Play in Three Acts, acting edition was published in 1939 by New York, Coward-McCann, Inc., in cooperation with S. French, Inc.

View  manuscript corrections of Our Town by Thornton Wilder.  (Thornton Wilder Papers   at  Beinecke Library, Yale University  ) . 

The play was  produced at the Pasadena Playhouse in 1939 by  Dir. Frank Ferguson
and in  1957 by  Dir. Barney Brown.​
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Meet  the cast of current production of Our Town. 

On October 8, 2017, Amos Tappan Wilder, a nephew of T. Wilder, has visited the  Pasadena  Playhouse and  attended  the  performance.  During Playhouse Talk on October 9th, he  offered an intimate look into the life of the playwright  and discussed his role as Literary Executor of the Thornton Wilder  Estate.  The  talk was  moderated by KPCC’s John Horn.

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Photo of the 1939 production of Our Town at Pasadena Playhouse. Dir. Frank Ferguson.

Photo of the 1958 production of Our Town at the Pasadena Playhouse. Dir. Barney Brown.

Images  courtesy of the Pasadena  Playhouse  Archives.

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Reviews  and Interviews

Broadway World Review  (Oct. 3, 2017): Time Passes and Life Goes On in Deaf West Theatre's 'Our Town' at Pasadena Playhouse

Los Angeles Times Review (Oct. 3, 2017): Deaf West and Pasadena Playhouse populate 'Our Town' with fresh faces .  By  Charles McNulty. 

Broadway World Interview  (Oct. 5, 2017): Jane Kaczmarek Stage Managing Her Future With Open & Always Entertaining Communications.

Pasadena Playhouse and Deaf West Make “Our Town” New Again. By Frances Baum Nicholson  (The  Stage  Struck  Review). 

New York Times (Oct. 13, 2017):  An ‘Our Town’ Image as Sturdy as a Chair: Behind the Poster. By Erik Piepenburg .  Interview with  Paula  Sher.

Los Angeles  Theatre  playgoers  reviews.

Our Town  Reviewed by Dana Martin  (Stage  Raw). 

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Thornton Wilder  

The Wilder Family LLC celebrates Thornton Wilder as an international Playwright and Novelist. We invite you to explore the website for detailed information about its activities and ways in which you can become involved with them.

 The Thornton Wilder Society preserves and expands the legacy of Thornton Wilder, a three time Pulitzer Prize winner and the only winner for both fiction and drama.

Thornton Wilder papers archive  at Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale  University  Library.  [Finding Aid and  Collection  Description).

Wilder as stage manager in production Our Town From: Thornton Wilder papers at Yale University Library.

Thornton Wilder  photos and other materials at Beinecke Digital Collections,  Yale  University  Library.

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