Our Town
(Thornton Wilder)
Act One
The stage manager appears and sets up the very few props that will be on stage and introduces the audience to Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire the morning of May 7, 1901. He tells about the actors, the writer, and points out some landmarks in town; the audience members must use their imaginations to see the places the stage manager describes because the props and sets are quite minimal throughout the play. He brings the audience’s attention to the home of Dr. Gibbs, or “Doc Gibbs” as he is known.
Doc Gibbs lives next door to Editor Webb, who is the editor of the local paper, “Sentinel”. Both Doc Gibbs and Editor Webb live with their wives. The stage manager comments that this must all be very boring to the audience, and that is because Grover’s Corners is a very boring town and nothing exciting ever happens there. The people who live in Grover’s Corners have always lived there, as have their families before them because no one ever bothers to leave.
When the train whistles at 5:45 the stage manager points out that it is signaling the train’s departure for Boston; he also points out Doc Gibbs walking down the street. Mrs. Gibbs appears in her kitchen cooking breakfast, and the stage manager interrupts to tell the audience how Mrs. And Doc Gibbs will die, showing his omniscience, which he does periodically throughout the play.
Doc Gibbs receives his newspaper from Joe Crowell Jr., the paperboy, while he is walking down the road. Joe tells Doc Gibbs that his schoolteacher is to be married, and the stage manager interrupts again to tell the audience about Joe’s life; he will graduate from high school, go on to be at the top of his class at MIT, and die while fighting in France during WWII. After Joe delivers the paper Howie Newsome comes by with the milk delivery, leading his horse Bessie, though the audience must imagine the horse.
As Doc Gibbs gets home his wife tells him that he needs to relax a little because he does not give himself enough rest, and he is due to see another patient very soon. She also asks that Doc Gibbs talk to their son, George, about doing his chores because his mind has been on nothing but baseball as of late. Speaking of George, Mrs. Gibbs calls him and his sister Rebecca down for breakfast and tells them to hurry before they are late for school. Next door to the Gibbs’ home Mrs. Webb can be heard calling her children, Emily and Wally, down to breakfast, as well. As the kids all sit down to breakfast, a whistle blows in the distance and the stage manager explains that it comes from a blanket factory owned by the Cartwright family who is well-off because of it.
After the children head to school Mrs. Gibbs, and Mrs. Webb begin on their own chores; feeding the chickens and stringing beans. The women begin to chat with one another about furniture that Mrs. Gibbs may sell, and her desire to visit Paris though Doc does not want to go because he is worried that after visiting Paris he may not think much of Grover’s Corners. Doc Gibbs would prefer to visit Civil War battle sites as he is quite the Civil War buff; Mrs. Webb states that her husband admires Doc Gibbs for his knowledge and expertise. The stage manager then calls in Professor Willard to share with the audience some historical information about Grover’s Corners. Professor Willard gives some geological information about the town and says that it is comprised of nearly all white residents with blue eyes, and they are overwhelmingly Protestant and Republican. The population in town rarely changes because the birth rate and death rate are pretty much the same.
The stage manager then asks Mrs. Webb if the Editor is available to speak to the audience. When he arrives, hand bandaged because he has cut himself slicing an apple, and reports about the political and social information about Grover’s Corners, maintaining that the town is ordinary, but people seem to like it.
The stage manager asks the audience if they have any questions for Mr. Webb, though the audience members who ask questions are members of the cast who have seated themselves with the audience. Through the questions, the audience learns that drinking is a not a big activity in Grover’s Corners and there is not much art and culture though the residents do find beauty in everyday things, like sunrises. Also, while they do care about politics and discuss them from time to time they feel as though there is little they can do outside of the people they actually know, so they spend their time making sure the people of their town are comfortable and happy.
As the children return from school Emily, pretends she is a high-society lady and George tosses a baseball in the air though he stops to compliment Emily on the speech she gave in class. George also asks if Emily could sometimes give him hints about homework, though not the actual answers; if she agrees they could set up a telegraph system between their bedroom windows. George wishes to be a farmer and believes he may inherit his uncle’s farm. When Mrs. Webb comes outside, George says hello to her but then he leaves to go to the baseball field and Emily goes to help her mother string beans.Emily asks her mother if she is pretty, to which Mrs. Webb rolls her eyes and confirms. The stage manager steps in to tell the audience about a time capsule which is being created and will hold newspapers, a bible, some Shakespeare, and hopefully a copy of the play that is being performed, “Our Town”, so people in the future will know what life in a small town was like.
Back in Grover’s Corners, it is evening time and the children of the Gibbs and Webb families are working on their homework. There have been ladders set up to represent the second story of each family’s home. A crazy drunk man named Simon Stimson acts as conductor of the orchestra and choir, which breaks into a rendition of “Blessed Be the Tie That Binds”. George speaks to Emily through their windows and asks if she will help him with their homework, though all Emily does is comment on the poor state of the moonlight that night. George is called downstairs by his father who speaks to him about doing his chores, making him feel guilty that Mrs. Gibbs has been doing them all herself. Mrs. Gibbs has walked down to the choir to gossip about the drunken state of Simon Stimson though when she returns home Doc tells her that nothing can be done about it.
Mr. Webb also discusses the state of Simon Stimson, though with Constable Warren. Simon walked by the men, and the constable tried to strike up a conversation with him though his attempt was not altogether successful. When Mr. Webb returns home, he finds Emily gazing at the heliotropes and wonders if she is troubled, though she tells him that she is not when he inquires.
Rebecca and George are also staring at the sky and speaking to one another. Rebecca is telling George about a letter her friend received once that was very specifically addressed, including the United States, the Earth, the Solar System, the Universe, and the Mind of God. The stage manager comes into to invite those who smoke to go ahead and do so as there will be an intermission.
Act Two
The stage manager appears to tell the audience that it has been three years since we last visited Grover’s Corners. The date is July 7, 1904, and the local high school has just had their graduation. He tells the audience that many things can happen in three years and that nearly everyone gets married at some point; he also reveals to the audience that the first act was called “Daily Life” and this upcoming act is titled “Love and Marriage”.
As the act begins the Mrs. Gibbs and Mrs. Webb are preparing breakfast for their families, Howie Newsome is delivering the milk, and Si Crowell, Joe’s brother, is delivering newspapers. Howie and Si run into Constable Warren and discuss George’s upcoming marriage. Si seems particularly upset that George is quitting baseball because he is marrying, as Si believes that George is the best pitcher that has ever lived in Grover’s Corners.
As everyone goes about their business, Howie stops to speak with Mrs. Gibbs who is preparing her home for the wedding guests she plans to entertain later that day. He then goes on to speak to Mrs. Webb, and this is when the audience first learns that the girl George will be marrying that day is Emily Webb. When Doc Gibbs come downstairs to breakfast he and his wife remember what it was like on their wedding day and the jitters that they experienced.
When George comes downstairs, he plans to head straight to the Webb house to see Emily. Mrs. Gibbs tells him that it is raining out, so George puts on some overshoes before going outside. When George gets to the Webb house Mrs. Webb does not even want to let him inside; she tells him that it is bad luck for a bride and groom to see one another on their wedding day and besides, Emily is not even awake yet.
Mrs. Webb ends up inviting George in and asking him to stay for coffee with Mr. Webb, while she runs upstairs to be sure that Emily does not come down and see George by accident. Mr. Webb and George take the time to have some manly bonding over their coffee, and Mr. Webb does his best to calm George’s nervousness. The men discuss marriage together and the idea of what makes a good husband and a happy marriage.
Mr. Webb shares the advice his father one gave to him; to treat his wife as though she is his property and to never respect her needs. Mr. Webb did exactly the opposite of what his father told him and has had a very happy marriage. Mrs. Webb then comes downstairs and tells George that Emily asked that he leave so she can eat breakfast.
The stage manager jumps into the scene to bring the audience back the day when George realized that he wanted to marry Emily. It is the end of their junior year in high school, and both have been elected to class office; George as the president, and Emily as the secretary and treasurer. They are walking home from school and George is carrying Emily’s books; he cannot shake the feeling that something is wrong with her as she seems to be acting rather distant toward him as of late. Emily seems flustered and does not really want to address the issue, though she eventually tells him that she thinks he has become rather stuck-up and self-absorbed with his baseball, to the point that he will not even stop to make conversation with people anymore. Emily begins to cry because she fears that she has upset George though she knows that she did the right thing in telling him the truth of how she feels and how he is being perceived; she apologizes anyway.
George and Emily head to Morgan’s drugstore, where Morgan is portrayed by the stage manager and George orders two strawberry ice-cream sodas for himself and Emily. He asks Emily if she will write to him if he decides to go away to Agricultural College the next year, and she agrees that she will, though George decides he does not want to go away, he wants to stay with Emily. He tells her how he feels, and that it has been coming on for quite some time and Emily agrees that the feeling between them is mutual. When it comes time to pay Mr. Morgan George realizes that he does not have any money on him and asks Mr. Morgan if he can return with it later; Mr. Morgan tells George he will give him ten years.
The stage manager brings the audience back to the present where it is, yet again, the day of George and Emily’s wedding and he is acting as minister in the wedding. He watches as the stage crew sets up rows of pews and he warns the audience that things are about to get “pretty serious” in the play. He tells the audience how marriage is important in human history and there is a divine power that wills the existence of marriage.
Mrs. Webb cries as she takes her place at the ceremony and speaks to the audience about girls lacking any proper preparations for marriage; and George’s friends all come to tease him for which the stage manager shoos them offstage. George talks to his mother and tells her that he fears getting old, though he quickly toughens up. He promises to Mrs. Gibbs that he and Emily will come over for dinner once every week. Emily has a freak out, much like George’s, and insists that she is not ready to grow up either, though Mr. Webb calms her down and leads her and George to the alter telling them that he is content to give Emily to George. Throughout the ceremony Mrs. Soames, one of the choir members, talks a lot and drowns out the minister, commenting on how lovely the wedding is. As George and Emily kiss, everyone freezes briefly while the minister muses over how many weddings he has performed and only one in a thousand ceremonies is actually interesting. The characters unfreeze, and George and Emily run down the aisle together to the “Wedding March” as man and wife. The stage manager calls for another ten-minute intermission.
Act Three
The third act opens in what the stage manager proclaims to be the town cemetery; which is represented on stage by three rows of chairs acting as rows of tombstones. Among the dead who take their place on the chairs representing their tombstones are Mrs. Gibbs, Wally Webb, Simon Stimson, and Mrs. Soames who have all died in the years leading up to this act. The stage manager announces to the audience that nine more years have passed since the wedding of George and Emily, and the time is now summer of 1913.
The stage manager speaks about the dead, stating that no longer have any interest in the living as they have other things to be interested in now their time amongst the living is over. He muses that everyone must know there is something lying inside them that will be around eternally and they wait around for that part to show itself. He muses that eternity is a tricky thing, but it does exist, as is shown in the fact that though Emily has died while giving birth to her second child, the child has lived.
Some of the living characters that have been hanging out in the background begin to emerge, one of them being Joe Stoddard, the town undertaker. Joe is standing over a grave that has been freshly dug and standing beside him is a man named Sam Craig. Sam is a cousin of Emily Webb who left Grover’s Corners twelve years prior to this date, he returned only for Emily’s funeral. Sam looks over the headstones and sees the names of Mrs. Gibbs and Simon who, as we learn from Joe, had hung himself in his attic. Sam inquires as to how Emily died, and Joe tells him that she died while birthing her second child.
The funeral party enters the room with Emily’s casket. Amongst those who are mourning her death are George, Doc Gibbs, and Mr. and Mrs. Webb. Mrs. Soames and Mrs. Gibbs speak to one another from their graves about the cause of Emily’s death, seemingly having no emotions about the incident whatsoever, though Mrs. Soames does reminisce about how beautiful George and Emily’s wedding was.
A choir sings “Blessed Be the Tie That Binds”, a song that was sung in the first act and also at the wedding. Emily leaves the funeral party and takes her place amongst the other dead. She strikes up a conversation with Mrs. Gibbs, her mother-in-law, about the improvements and changes that she and George had been making to their farm. Emily stops speaking suddenly, as though a light bulb has gone off in her head, and proclaims to Mrs. Gibbs that “live people don’t understand”. As Emily is now one of the dead and sitting amongst, them she realizes that she feels very distant from those who are still living, though she takes comfort in the small hope that she can return to the living at some point.
Despite the fact that Emily feels distant from the living, she still feels as though she is one of them. While the other dead advise her not to, because they think Emily needs to forget the life that she was once a part of, Emily decides she would like to go back to her life and relive one day that she was particularly fond of. The stage manager helps Emily to return to 1899 and the day of her twelfth birthday.
The day begins as any other day in Grover’s Corners began; Howie Newsome delivers the milk, Joe Crowel Jr. delivers the papers, and both of the guys stop to speak with Constable Warren in the street that morning. Mrs. Webb and Mrs. Gibbs are in their homes making breakfast for their families, and Mr. Webb returns from a trip he has been on for a few days, bringing with him a surprise for Emily’s birthday. Emily tries to talk to Mrs. Webb about her life and what happens to her in the future; her marriage to George, their home and farm, their children, and Wally’s death, but Mrs.
Webb cannot hear her. Mrs. Webb gives Emily her gifts, and suddenly Emily is overcome with emotion and needs to leave the scene of that day. She realizes that the living do not appreciate their time on Earth, and make the most of it and it saddens her. Emily asks the stage manager to bring her back to the cemetery that day in 1913. She also asks him if anyone appreciates their life while on Earth and he tells her that no one does, except maybe poets.
Emily again takes her place next to Mrs. Gibbs and the two women, along with the other deceased, watch the stars in the sky. Emily tells the other dead that she should have listened to them and stayed in her grave. Simon tells Emily angrily that she can now understand how self-centered and ignorant the living are, often wasting their time and hurting the feelings of others with little to no regard for those feelings. Mrs. Gibbs slightly disagrees with Simon and defends the living, insisting that Simon has not told Emily the whole story. One of the deceased men is still watching the stars and muses about how his son once told him that starlight takes millions of years to reach the Earth from its starting point.
George comes into the scene and throws himself onto Emily’s grave, beside himself with sadness and grief over her death. Many of the dead express their distaste over his actions and Emily, watching her husband so overcome with emotions, is in disbelief that “they just don’t understand”. The stage manager reappears and closes a black curtain over the scene. He tells the audience a few last things about Grover’s Corners as the town settles in for the night. He looks up at the stars and wonders aloud whether the Earth is the only place where living beings exist. He winds his watch and tells the audience to go home and get a good night’s rest, dismissing them.