Lancer Productions will open its 2023-24 season with a feat that has never been attempted in the history of theater at North Scott.
Described as “the greatest American play ever written,” Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town” will be presented Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, with the actors and the audience on the stage of the North Scott Fine Arts Auditorium.
The show will be performed in a configuration known as a three-quarter thrust, where the audience will be seated on three sides of the stage, and the action taking place in the center. In this production, the audience will be actually seated on the stage of the auditorium, leading to a limited number of tickets sold for each show.
“I have always wanted to do this show,” said director Stacie Kintigh. “I have always wanted to direct it. But I always felt like we can’t do this show because we don’t have a black box (theatre). So, I said to (technical director Josh Tipsword), ‘Will you build me a black box on the stage? I want to do it in the round.’
Kintigh said she recognizes that this will be a completely different experience, both for the patrons and for her student actors. The past two seasons have been comedies, with the melodrama “Bertha, the Beautiful Typewriter Girl,” in 2021, and the farce, “The Play That Goes Wrong,” in 2022.
But “Our Town” is a drama in three acts. Set in the fictional town of Grovers Corners, N.H., between the years 1901-1913, and shows the day-to-day lives of the town’s residents. The acts are Daily Life, Love and Marriage, and Death and Eternity.
“I wanted this,” said Kintigh. “I wanted to teach this. To go from years of comedy, teaching them melodrama, to prepare for the physical and situational comedy, and that true sketch piece. To just totally do a 180 and do ‘Our Town,’ I knew it would be a challenge, but they were excited. They wanted to do it so badly when it was announced.”
Many of the cast members have been involved in all three shows and say it has been a big change to go from comedy to drama.
“I would say that your mind has to be in a space that allows you to connect more emotionally,” said senior Thomas McCarthy, who plays Mr. Webb in this production. “You have to connect some of your experiences to be able to portray that feeling of sadness. And usually, when it’s a comedy, I think, ‘What am I going to do here to make the audience laugh?’ But it’s much different when you have to think, ‘How do I get them to feel the sadness that I feel?’”
“It’s more emotionally draining,” said senior Hannah Noonan of the switch to drama. “What I try to do when I’m acting or singing or performing pieces, I try to connect that with something in my life. And when I tried to do that with this show, it made it depressing.”
Noonan plays Emily Webb.
“I remember when we were auditioning, Stacie was like, ‘OK, we’re going to do this monologue, and it’s about (Emily) not realizing life. And my grandpa passed away last year, and I connected it to that, and I just went home and sobbed. So it’s definitely … it’s a lot harder than comedy.”
“With farce, it’s such different end goals,” said senior Amber Bauswell, who plays the Stage Manager, a character that acts as the narrator. “This show has a lot of … they want to explore grief with all the characters, they want to explore love, they want to explore sadness, they want to explore every emotion and describe how humans are human.
“And with ‘The Play That Goes Wrong,’ since it was farce, it was just us being silly little guys on stage. The goal was to make everyone laugh, and this is to make you feel.”
“I’d say a big thing is the subtlty of the acting,” agreed Gabby Andersen, who plays Mrs. Webb. “Because big reactions and big emotions, getting a laugh isn’t what you’re going for. You’re trying to get the audience to feel a real emotion, not something exaggerated.”
The cast is also expecting a different energy with the audience being on stage with them.
“Instead of the audience being out there watching the show, they’re almost a part of the show, onstage with you,” said senior Caleb Strom, who plays George Gibbs.
“It’s going to be hard,” added junior Isaiah Serrano, who plays George’s father, Dr. Gibbs. “It’s going to be everyone, everywhere, all at once. A lot of things to think about, who you’re playing to.
“I think it’s easier to act as you would in real life. Because you don’t have to worry so much about, ‘Oh no, I’m blocking the audience.’ You still have one-third or two-thirds of it still.”
“I think a lot of us, me especially, had problems in the way we need to turn to do stuff,” said Bauswell of the blocking process. “Because I kept thinking, ‘Well, the audience is right here, so I need to move in a specific way so they can see me.’ But they’re everywhere. No matter where you move, you have to move in a specific way, and you have to play on an angle, and you have to turn a certain way to do a thing. And it’s all so deliberate.
“Something that’s really interesting about the round is trying to connect with everything as much as possible,” continued Bauswell. “I know for me, personally, I’m allowed to look directly into audience members’ eyes and say lines to them. And that’s a really interesting take, especially with something like ‘Our Town,’ where the whole point is connection. I think that’s really important in a great way to go about a show like this.”
McCarthy agreed.
“When the audience is just out in the auditorium, you can’t make a personal connection, because you don’t necessarily know who’s out there. But when they’re right there, you know exactly who’s going to be watching you. So, if that’s someone who’s going to distract you, you have to zone that out of your mind and just focus on what’s going on.”
“Most of my experience on stage is in the round,” said Kintigh. “I thought this was an opportunity that some of these guys may never get again. Or, it’s an opportunity that they’ve enjoyed and learned from, so they might audition for a show in the round in the community theatres or in college.
“It was very telling that these kids – they’ve never seen things in the round, so it was a total paradigm shift for them. Teaching them that everything lies on a plane. Nothing is ever 90 degrees. Unless you choose, and you better have a darn good reason.”
For Kintigh, the ultimate reward is the educational experience the company will receive from this show.
“I think my biggest wish for them, and hope for the show, is that they feel that they have learned something and grown as actors. Learned something they would have never had the chance to do if we didn’t do this. That’s my biggest hope for them, is that what they have learned is of value.”
The cast includes: Amber Bauswell (Stage Manager), Isaiah Serrano (Dr. Gibbs), Lauren Pawloski (Mrs. Gibbs – Thursday, Saturday night), Ryenne Lacher (Mrs. Gibbs – Saturday matinee, Sunday), Caleb Strom (George Gibbs), Emma Zrostlik (Rebecca Gibbs), Thomas McCarthy (Mr. Webb), Charlotte Madden (Mrs. Webb – Thursday, Saturday matinee), Gabby Andersen (Mrs. Webb – Saturday evening, Sunday), Hannah Noonan (Emily Webb – Saturday), Addalie Reese (Emily Webb – Thursday, Sunday), Will Noonan (Wally Webb), Hayden Lacher (Joe Crowell, Baseball Player), Taylor Crain (Si Crowell), Keegan Panther (Howie Newsome), Riley Plymale (Professor Willard, Baseball Player), Brayden Serrano (Simon Stimson), Adison Greer (Mrs. Soames), Benjamin Hill (Constable Warren), Eva Lubben (Joe Stoddard, u/s Stage Manager), Jax Martin (Sam Craig, u/s George Gibbs), Grady Kirst (Baseball Player, Man in the Auditorium), Taylar Vondal (Lady in the Box), Anna Harris (Woman in the Balcony), Aiden Chizek (Farmer McCarty).
“Our Town” is directed by Stacie Kintigh, and produced by Emily Hintze. The rehearsal stage manager is Mya Kelsey. Josh Tipsword is technical director, scenic designer and lighting designer. Assistant technical director is Justin Walker. Assistant lighting designer/operator is Aiden Kelsey. Sound designer/operator is Abby Harrison. The stage crew includes Aiden Chizek and Hope Harrison. Costumes are by Brooke Rich and Haidyn Koberg, and the costume crew includes Madison Christensen, Nora Davis, Madilynn Hillman, Kaitlyn Knepper, Brooklyn Lacher, Elliot Luckritz, Margaret Noonan, Natalie Sierk, Logan Stick-Mueller, Isabella Suarez. Hair and makeup design is by Gabby Andersen, and the crew includes Marissa Carlton, Nora Glover, Kaitlyn Knepper, Eva Lubben, Jane Nichols, Keegan Panther.
The show will be presented Thursday, Oct. 26, and Saturday, Oct. 28, at 7 p.m., and Saturday, Oct. 28, and Sunday, Oct. 29, at 2 p.m. There is no Friday show. Admission is $12 for adults and $10 for students and senior citizens. A limited number of tickets are still available at tix.nshslp.com.