Colorado Shakespeare Festival's simple take on 'Our Town' as timely as ever

By Mark Collins Camera Theater Critic

Posted: 07/22/2010 12:32:53 AM MDT

It starts with the obvious: We're in Boulder, seeing a play by Thornton Wilder at the Colorado Shakespeare Festival. Here are the actors and their names are...

That's how the Stage Manager in Wilder's groundbreaking play "Our Town" begins the show.

By the time some of the townsfolk take the stage dressed in white in the third act, CSF's version has cast a spell. This is a lovely, stirring production of a remarkable play.

Wilder penned the play in 1938, and set it famously in Grover's Corners, a sleepy burg in New Hampshire. It's three acts are titled "Daily Life," "Love and Marriage" and "Death and Eternity." We follow several indelible characters through the years, including Emily Webb (Jamie Ann Romero) and George Gibbs (Benjamin Bonefant), who start a young romance that leads to marriage.

The play was radical 70 years ago in that it breaks the fourth wall and refers to itself, conceits now commonplace in contemporary drama. It's also deceptively subtle and doesn't rely on obvious conflict to draw us in or push its plot along.

CSF's "Our Town" cooks slowly, stirs gently, talks plainly until we find we're swirling in something profound. Masterfully, the play touches on the eternal by focusing on the simple daily life and relationships. Never pressing too hard, yet filling the ordinary with color and flavor, CSF's production, directed by CSF first-timer Victoria Evans Erville, captures the play's inherent power.

Erville accents the play's already universal themes with casting, costume and musical choices. Several characters are portrayed by African-American actors, including Beethoven Oden's excellent performance as the Stage Manager. The music played pre-show and during intermissions draws on a range of popular genres from several decades of the 20th century. Costume designer Kevin Brainerd outfits the actors in threads from various decades, too. It's all done with a subtle, unassuming touch. The casting, costumes and music don't come off as a statement, but as a broadening.

Much of the on-stage business is mimed -- cooking, eating -- by the actors, and the sounds are provided by other actors using simple props. At first the practice threatens to overtake the play, but we get used to it.

Led by Oden, the acting ensemble's work is good all around. He boasts a big and pleasing voice, and he's an altogether engaging Stage Manager -- a wise friend, a trustworthy and amiable companion on the journey.

The journey seems like a simple one. After all, "Our Town" is full of daily business -- a milkman makes his rounds, mothers prepare meals, children attend to their schoolwork, friends and family interact.

But this "Our Town" allows us to drift back and forth between Grover's Corners and our own lives in our own town. And it provides us with powerful reminders about what makes our lives worth living.

Contact Camera Theater Critic Mark Collins at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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