Our Town: A Review

This past weekend, I had the pleasure of attending Carlynton's Fall Play “Our Town.” The play followed events taking place in Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire,  mainly focusing on the lives of the Webb and Gibbs families. 

The first act, titled “Daily Life,” opened with Stage Manager, Camryn Kwiatkoski, walking from the audience and up onto the stage to open the show. She gave insight into the daily lives of people in the town, calling characters such as Mr. Webb (Zachary Holderbaum) and Professor Willard (Zavier Helbig) to give accounts on the population, history, and typical events in Grover’s Corner. Characters such as Doc Gibbs (Reece Smith) were also placed in the audience and would interject with questions for the Stage Manager and commentary on life in the town. The act allowed for the fourth wall to be broken, giving a unique, interesting opening to the show. The act then showed a typical day in Grover’s Corners, giving viewers a basic understanding of life for our characters. We also saw love begin to blossom between George Gibbs (Kyle Auth) and Emily Webb (Jaimee Cabili), which would be expanded upon in the second act. 

The second act, “Love and Marriage,” immediately followed the first, and further explored the relationship between George and Emily. We watched as George became further interested in Emily, who was seemingly avoiding him. I liked that the second act had more than just descriptions going on because it felt like more of a performance in that sense. My favorite part of this scene was by far the wedding.  The drama of not wanting to get married and then wanting to get married was interesting acting by Kyle and Jamie. This act was much more comical as well. The two comedic parts that stood out to me occurred around the wedding. The pre-wedding interaction between Zach Holderbaum, playing a skeptical father, and Kyle, his soon-to-be son-in-law, were hilarious! At the end of the wedding, Hannah Clark, who played Mrs. Soames, was so funny, too! She talked loudly and was really in her character’s personality.

Finally, the third act was “Death”. I considered this act the most profound; it was very sad, and I teared up several times. I was impressed with how well the actors did in making the audience feel the loss of Emily Gibbs; untimely death. Camryn didn’t tell us whose death it was until the actors came out, allowing us to piece it together.  I was extremely shocked to learn it was Emily’s, as she died during childbirth, which added an extra toll of sadness to the death. Kyle, I felt also did an amazing job in this act, specifically when he got on the floor and cried over her grave. That act of love and loss started my tears. During this act, Emily goes back to her 12th birthday to see her family. Going back makes her sad, as she can see her family, but her family can’t see her. Jamie did a wonderful job showing her emotions and really portraying the grief Emily felt.

The crew, seen only for snippets of time, did an amazing job setting the stage for the best high school play I had ever seen!  Finally, the simplicity of the set amazed me, and I was awed at how fitting it was for the story. Ultimately, the cast and did an amazing job. “Our Town” was very well done and I don’t think anyone could top that.

 Written by Pammy Smith, 9th grade