Our Town
(Thornton Wilder)

The Stage Manager

The stage manager serves as the narrator and also plays the part of a couple different random characters, such as Mr. Morgan who owns the drugstore and the minister at George and Emily’s wedding.

The stage manager has control over the flow of the play and feels free to interrupt whenever he deems it necessary, usually to educate the audience. He tells the audience about props that are not there, introduces other characters to give history lessons about the town, and fills the audience in on events that may have happened between acts. He assumes a godlike role over the play as he has, seemingly, total control over the progression.

George Gibbs

George is the son of Mrs. and Doc Gibbs. At the start, of the play he is a high school student who is flirtatious with Emily, the girl next door, and interested mainly in baseball. George ends up foregoing college to stay in Grover’s Corners to marry Emily, though he is nervous at the thought of growing up so quickly.

In the last act, we learn that George and Emily had been married nine years and had a farm and two children, though Emily sadly died while birthing the second child. George is beside himself with grief at Emily’s funeral.

Emily Webb (Gibbs)

Emily is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Gibbs. At the start, of the play she is a high school student who spends a lot of time pondering the wonders of the world and the meaning of life.She is outspoken and a bit of a dreamer.

Emily is very smart and her agreement to help George with his homework is only the start of a relationship that will result in their marriage in act two. Emily becomes one of a group of dead souls in the third act who watch over the cemetery scene and feel sorry for the living who do not appreciate the gift of life.

Doc Gibbs

Doc Gibbs is the father of George and Rebecca and the husband of Mrs. Gibbs. He is the doctor of Grover’s Corners who delivers babies on the morning the play first opens. Mrs. Gibbs shares that Doc is a Civil War buff and would like nothing more than to tour the various battlefields of the war.

Doc Gibbs worries that if he brings his wife to Paris, as she wishes, that he will no longer appreciate or even care for, his life in Grover’s Corners. After Doc passes away, in 1930, the hospital in town is named for him, due to all of his hard work.

Mrs. Gibbs

Mrs. Gibbs is the mother to George and Rebecca and the wife of Doc Gibbs. She spends her days cooking meals for her children and husband and also keeping up on household chores, including those that belong to George as he no longer seems to have time for them.

Mrs. Gibbs wishes to visit Paris but knows that her husband will not take her because he fears leaving Grover’s Corners and not appreciating his life there when he returns. By the third act, Mrs. Gibbs has died of pneumonia and had never visited Paris, as had been her lifelong dream.

Mr. Webb

Mr. Webb is married to Mrs. Webb and father to Emily and Wally. He and his family live next door to the Gibbs’. Mrs. Webb is the editor of “Sentinel”, the paper of Grover’s Corners. The stage manager calls Mr. Webb to the forefront when he needs an expert on the history and political nature of life in Grover’s Corners and allows the “audience” to ask him questions.

Mr. Webb is a very kind man with a good heart and sense of humor, which is shown on the day of the wedding when he manages to calm George down and make him feel comfortable, rather than intimidated.

Mrs. Webb

Mrs. Webb is the wife of Mrs. Webb and mother to Emily and Wally. Mrs. Webb seems to be a very serious woman who cares for her children and husband deeply. She has stated that she prefers for her children to be healthy, rather than smart, which is ironic because Emily happens to be extremely smart though dies at a young age. When Emily revisits her twelfth birthday and tries to appeal to her mother, fruitlessly, it is a moving moment for the audience to see the tenderness and caring relationship between mother and daughter, though Mrs. Webb cannot hear Emily because she is dead.

Simon Stimson

Simon is the drunk of Grover’s Corners and also the director of the choir that many of the townspeople belong to. Simon sticks out like a sore thumb in the small town because he is the only flaw in a place that seems otherwise perfect. Despite Simon’s problems, no one really tries to communicate with him or help him, other than an attempt at conversation by Mr. Webb.

Simon is very mysterious because the audience never learns why Simon is so troubled, he is merely an example of the harsher side of small-town life. Simon is one of the dead souls in the grave yard as he hung himself sometime between acts two and three.

Mrs. Soames

Mrs. Soames is one of the more gossipy women in town and she is a member of the choir. She often gossips about the drunken state of Simon Stimson with the other ladies in town. Mrs. Soames is a vocal part of George and Emily’s wedding as she talks loudly throughout the ceremony about what a lovely wedding it is.

In the third act, Mrs. Soames is one of the dead souls in the graveyard who introduces Emily to the afterlife, and helps her realize the importance of seizing life while it is happening, something that the living just do not seem to understand.

A Tamale Vendor

This man sells his wares at Elysian Fields. His calls can often be heard as interjections in different scenes, along with the comments of a Negro woman and the sales calls of a Mexican woman.

A Doctor

Stella brings this doctor in at the end of the play in order to take Blanche away to an institution.