Jim Panttaja

I remember very well reading and studying Our Town when I was in high school. I hated it. Nothing happened. There was this narrator on stage telling me the story. The speeches didn’t feel like anything people would actually say. So, I was not looking forward to this production. Then I read the director’s (Chay Yew) comments on the production. He also wasn’t impressed with it when he read it in high school. But was excited to be directing it. So I went in open minded (mostly).There were many things that helped me to like this production. I now have a better sense of theater history (The play was written in 1937 and won a Pulitzer). The use of a ‘chorus’ has been a tradition in the theater forever, but this chorus is a bit different. The stage manager is creating the play, not just commenting on it. I now understand that distinction. The company provides an incredible pool of actors, which allowed the town drunk to be played by Dan Donohoe, who was Iago the night before. The cast in this production was phenomenal. And Anthony Heald was great as the stage manager.I now have a better sense of Thornton Wilder (I haven’t read all of his writings, but have read a couple of his books). I think Our Town was not a great introduction for a high school student to Wilder - but two of his books were written after I studied Our Town in high school. I now know about New England. When I was in high school, I had once been out of California to Nevada. I have now been to New England many times on business and vacation, and lived close by in Poughkeepsie New York for three years. The sense of history - especially in the graveyard - is hard (though not impossible) to find in California. That New England sense of history is important to the details (though not the substance) of this play.We went to a talk by one of the actors before the play. The actor who was supposed to be there forgot, and they literally dragged in an actor off the street. Dan Haley is in his second year at the festival. He is from Idaho (and knows my cousin Dean Panttaja who is chairman of the theatre department at University of Idaho). In response to a question about a previous years play, he observed that the director has to be careful with their decisions. They certainly need to be creative - and present their message (within the context of the playwrights message). But the director also has to be aware of the impact on the audience. In this production, the two lead children didn’t work for me. I am sure that they presented what the director was looking for, but I was taken out of the play by their performances.  The young woman spoke with a lilting indian accent. The young man seemed much older than the character (though of course they were in a ‘play’ directed by the stage manager).  The performances were fine - but for a moment, I was taken out of the play.I won’t claim to ‘understand’ Our Town, but I did understand enough to have enjoyed some conversations with my family afterward.