Our Town

MorrisCo Art Theatre will present Our Town, by Thornton Wilder, from June 25 through 27, 2009, at the Riverside Arts Center in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Artistic Director Susan Morris will direct.

The cast includes:

Stage Manager – Ben Cohen
George – Evan Kreska
Doc Gibbs – Charles Sutherland
Mr. Webb – Kenny Simon
Simon Stimson – Mark Flanders
Professor Willard – Marcel Muller
Howie Newsome – Christopher Potter
Joe Crowell  - Connor LaPorte
Joe Stoddard – Peter Greenquist
Sam Craig - Paul Taylor
Constable Warren – Tony Putman
Wally – Ben Simon

Emily – Lisa White
Mrs. Gibbs – Colby Halloran
Mrs. Webb – Wendy Fritz
Mrs. Soames – Jane Glass
Rebecca – Savannah Binion

Audience Man – John Halloran
Dead Men – Mark Savickas, Nelson Burton
Audience Women – Margie Cohen, Marilyn Scott
Dead Women – Margie Cohen, Marilyn Scott

Director's Comments 

Our Town truly is a masterpiece, winning the 1938 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.  Despite that impressive fact, too many people think of it as just a high school play. It is often done by high schools, not just because it’s a wonderful play, but because it has a number of young people in the cast. In addition, scenery is actually forbidden by the playwright, eliminating an often expensive aspect of production.  This play may seem simple on the surface, but it is profound in its simplicity.

In Our Town, as in many of his plays, Wilder addresses the joys and sorrows in the lives of ordinary people and attempts to determine the significance of those lives.  To dismiss that as trivial is to completely miss the point. One early reviewer took a somewhat condescending attitude toward the production, calling it "unassuming."  Wilder disagreed. "What I wrote was damn assuming," he responded.

MorrisCo intends to present a production of that very presumptuous script.

--- Susan Morris

The play is at once nostalgic, funny, romantic, biting, sad, and always familiar and charmingly direct.  It tackles the big questions in life and leaves no pat answers.  It is at once straightforward and complex.  It is an American Masterpiece.

--- The Electric Theatre Company

Our Town Performances

Location:  Riverside Arts Center, 76 N. Huron St., Ypsilanti, Michigan 48197.

Dates and Times:  Thursday through Saturday, June 25 through 27, 2009, at 8:00 pm. Matinee on Saturday, June 27, at 2:00 pm.

For ticket information, please call (734) 996-2549 or e-mail info@morrisco.org.

MorrisCo Art Theatre is a 501(c)(3) non-profit theatre, and has been producing high-quality modern dramas and comedies since its inception in 1995.

MorrisCo Art Theatre is a group of Ann Arbor area actors, designers, and directors who are committed to excellence and the highest standards of theatrical production.

If you would like to learn more about our organization, or become a patron, please contact us.

Tickets or information:
(734) 996-2549
info@morrisco.org