![]() ![]() The multicultural audiences all found themselves reflected in the action, Sherman reports. When Miami New Drama performed Our Town in 2017, the company alternated languages from scene to scene-English, Spanish, and Creole, the city’s three major languages. After three short chapters on the origins and early reception of Our Town, Sherman’s book consists of a series of oral histories based on interviews with more than a dozen casts of recent revivals of the play. This trend continues into the 21st century. In 1968, a Los Angeles production populated Grover’s Corners with cast members who were African American, Apache, Russian, Mexican, and Chinese. It was performed in Japanese internment camps during World War II and was the first American play produced in Berlin after the war. Like Jesus’ parabolic mustard bush, Our Town affords many sheltering branches to an impressive diversity of audiences. Sherman points to the play’s capacity to transcend the parochial and embrace universal human experience. ![]() The audience arriving, sees an empty stage in half light”), and only the barest of plots become a theatrical icon worldwide? ![]() How did a play with such a provincial setting (an apparently all-White Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire, population 2,642), the sparest possible staging (Wilder’s opening stage direction states: “No curtain. In Another Day’s Begun, Howard Sherman seeks to discover the secret of Our Town’s enduring impact. Read our latest issue or browse back issues. ![]()
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