Revisiting ‘Our Town’ from the Graves

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Thornton Wilder's classic, "Our Town," is getting a site-specific restaging at Green-Wood Cemetary, complete with a cast of modern-day Brooklynites in place of its original New Englanders. Photo: Hunter Canning

Thornton Wilder’s classic, “Our Town,” is getting a site-specific restaging at Green-Wood Cemetery, complete with a cast of modern-day Brooklynites in place of its original New Englanders. Photo: Hunter Canning

If it has been a while since you’ve seen Our Town performed–and I’m betting it has–a few things will likely come back to you as I jog your memory. The set is minimal, the Stage Manager breaks the fourth wall, and a good bit of the time we spend with Emily Webb and George Gibbs in Grover’s Corners takes place in a cemetery. While part of the beauty of the play is the amount of imagining it asks of its audience—to see George and Emily perched on ladders and understand they’re really talking through their bedroom windows, for instance—having it set within Green-Wood Cemetery is a choice you could imagine Thornton Wilder would approve of, even if it breaks his no scenery rule. Award-winning director and playwright James Presson, founder of the Less Than Rent Theatre, along with its executive director,  Nora McNally (24 Hour Plays on Broadway) are taking a few more liberties with Wilder’s timeless classic about the cycle of life, setting the play to music from this century and substituting the usual New England cast for a cast of typical Brooklynites, including Amanda Brooklyn as Emily (yes, Brooklyn is her real last name). Catch it Wednesdays through Saturdays before it closes June 28, and if you want to up the creepiness factor, go to one of the midnight shows on Saturdays. Tickets are $30 (in advance) to $40 for midnight shows, available here.

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