Abril Chihuahua

January 26, 2016

Our town Essay
Our Town by Thornton Wilder, is a play about a small fictional town named Grovers
Corners between 1900s - 1930s. In Our town we are introduced to two families, the Webb and
the Gibbs, living very casual and rather simple lives. In this essay you will be reading about how
the role of the Stage Manager affects the play. By using the Stage Manager to control time and to
act as the bridge between the audience and the actors, Wilder challenges the theory that great
drama must use elaborate staging and conventional expository techniques in order to be relatable.
To begin with, the Stage Manager acts as the bridge between the audience and the actors.
In the first act of Our town, Wilder suggests that there should be almost no props on the stage.
Instead, Wilder uses the Stage Manager to give the audience a more understanding view of how
the stage is set up. The Stage Manager says Up here is Main Street...(4). Here, you see that
Wilder decides to make the Stage Manager tell you a story by making the audience visualize the
setting, therefore making the play more intemet for the audience, as they are now in charge of
remembering where the story takes plays, and are in a special way part of the play. Just one page
after that, another example occurs the the Stage Manager states, He approaches the table and
chairs downstage right This is our doctors house,- Doc Gibbs.(5). Here, you see that instead
of the character telling you slowly whom they are, the Stage Manager narrates and lets you know
who all of the characters are. He speaks as if he is introducing the audience to a friend, he is the
bridge, he includes the audience in the play.
Not only does Wilder use the Stage Manager to act as the bridge between the audience
and the actors, but he also uses the Stage Manager to control time. Wilder challenges the theory

that great drama must use elaborate staging and conventional expository techniques in order for
the play to seem relatable to the audience. In the beginning of the play, the Stage Manager tells
the audience, Want to tell you something about that boy Joe Crowell there. Joe was awful
bright... head of his class... got a scholarship to Massachusetts Tech... Goin to be a great
engineer... But the war broke out and he died in France... All that education for nothing (9).
Here, you see that the Stage Manager is letting the audience know what will happen to the
character, Joe, in the future. The Stage Manager proves that he can control time and is outside of
the present time period of the action, since he is telling this play more like a story than a
traditional drama performance, where the audience views the action in real time. In Act Two and
Three he starts each act with a narrative monologue that sets the time, such as in Act Two, where
he says Three years have gone by (47). Here you see that the Stage Manager has control over
the time in which the story takes place. The ability of the Stage Manager controlling time is not
in line with the rules of theater. The Stage Manager does not usually have as many lines, or is
much of a storyteller in the usual context of what a Stage Manager should be in plays. Stage
Managers are supposed to give some context when it comes to the play, but in this case the Stage
Manager has part-taken in a role that is more of a character and less of a narrator. The Stage
Manager personalised the play in order to tell the story that s/he needs to get across and one of
those affective ways was to control the time period that the play is supposed to be set in. Wilder
breaks the rule of having a drama performance take place in real time, which is the whole point
of theater. This is a unique tactic that Wilder uses in his play Our town.

Most importantly, Wilder challenges the theory that great drama must use conventional
expository techniques, such as background knowledge about the actors without the use of direct
dialogue. In the play the Stage Manager is the one to give you knowledge about the actors

without lines having to be said by the actual characters themselves. In the second paragraph of
this essay you read that the Stage Manager is not from the same time period as the characters and
as well is somehow able to predict their lives. With this, the Stage Manager describes the
characters lives and shapes them, as he does, he is sure to tell you simple background knowledge
about the characters. Such as letting the audience know in the first few pages of the play,
something that should be revealed in the last act. Mrs. Gibbs died first-... (7) . Here you see
that the audience now knows some sort of significant point in the plot of the story. The Stage
Manager has already condemned a character to death. The Stage Manager built her life and many
others, but now the audience knows this is going to happen and it won't be a big surprise. This is
quite unusual, considering the fact that most writers would prefer for the characters themselves
to reveal background information, such as this, through expository dialogue. In Act III, the Stage
Manager is able to speak with the deceased, and is able to travel through time, constantly
reminding the Character of what is happening. You not only live it; but you watch yourself
living it... All right. February 11 1899... (99-101). Here you see that the Stage Manager is even
able to speak with the dead. The Stage Manager has turned into an out-of-the-ordinary narrator
since they are now not just partaking in the play, but actually talking to the characters inside of
the play which in a way breaks an invisible boundary that the actors have with their Stage
Manager, a line in which they never speak. A Stage Manager is able to communicate with the
characters despite it going against the rules of theater. The Stage Manager has control over what
experience they may or may not have; the Stage Manager is the one that controls the characters
lives. The Stage Manager is in charge of the simplicity in this play. Even though he doesnt state
it, it becomes quite clear to the audience. The simplicity of the play and the complex and

mysterious ways of the Stage Manager, the play becomes relatable to their everyday lives. Thus,
making this one of the best dramas of all time.
Overall. Wilder uses the Stage Manager to control time through character revelation and
stating the time period at the beginning of each act, to control the stageing throughout the play to
create audience involvement and become the bridge between the actors, to challenge the theory
that great drama must use conventional expository techniques in order to be relatable by making
an atmosphere of creative thought through the use of simple life and human emotions.