TOWAMENCIN- The upcoming school production of Our Town, which premiers Thursday evening at 7:30, is all set to go, and the students involved are buckling down into show mode for the next week and a half. Senior Chelsea Aubert, playing the female lead Emily Webb, looks forward to performing Our Town and surprising the students who already have had exposure to the play in earlier English classes.
“You get different things out of it at different ages, and although most of us have read it in past years in school, seeing it live adds a whole different aspect to it, a specialness.”
Aubert admits that Emily is the hardest role she’s ever had to play, attributing the difficulty to playing a character whose age spans from twelve years old to mid-20’s. Never having experienced life as a 20-something year old, Aubert has to work hard without personal experiences to work off of. Her favorite part of Emily is that “she’s a very admirable character. She’s smart and hardworking, but also has her head in the clouds.”
Excited to perform in a show where most audiences can a find a piece of themselves in the characters onstage, Chelsea remarks, “It’s actually quite relatable. It doesn’t matter what time you’re in, a family is a family and your values are the same.”
Playing Chelsea’s love interest George Gibbs, senior Tucker Breder anticipates great reactions from the audience regarding the performances. Personally, he sees George, an all-American, baseball-playing boy, unlike his normal personality in many respects.
“George is pretty out of my comfort zones. I’m very used to playing the weird characters, so just being a normal guy is definitely a challenge.”
He also acknowledges George’s strengths as an honest person living a simple life, rendering him relevant to any time period. As far as his opinion on the show as a whole goes, Breder comments that the overall simplistic design of the show forces the actors to perform at their best with no elaborate set or crazy characters to fall back on. He also encourages students to see it in order to form a new opinion on the play: “I hope that the students can open themselves up to what it teaches, especially for seniors who are looking at the next chapter of their life.”
The narrator of the show, the Stage Manager, is played by senior Tyler Ivey. He answered some questions about the play and his role in it.
On his role, Ivey said, “I get to be an all knowing entity who is sharing a beautiful show with a very valuable message with an audience. It’s an honor.”
One of the most difficult parts about his role, lengthy monologues are abundant as the Stage Manager, a new kind of challenge Ivey has not faced before.
“I must say I am extra impressed with this cast.” he shared, “We have all become very tight-knit and help each other so much. I am blessed to be a part of a once in a life time cast.”
When asked how this show is different from his past ones, he said, “This is the first bare set style show I have done, and I have never had a show connect so much on a personal level.”
After asked on why students should see it, Ivey responded, “The messages it gives to the audience about life and family is truly eye opening and can change your whole outlook on life. It’s a play about people, and that is a beautiful thing.”
As the company buckles down for the final few days before the show opens, students, faculty, and members of the community can buy tickets for Our Town online at npenn.org for November 21st, 22nd, and 23rd at 7:30 p.m., and for November 24th at 2:00 p.m.