Sayville Drama Troupe Present "Our Town"

 

“Molière said that for the theatre all he needed was a platform and a passion or two.  The climax of this play needs only five square feet and the passion to know what life means to us.” -- Thornton Wilder, 1957

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The Little Theatre set was indeed minimalist with chairs, a blackboard, and two ladders, surrounded by a raised audience platform, but the Sayville High School Players enriched the imaginations of the audience with their passionate performances in Thornton Wilder’s Our Town.

The three-act play introduces the Grover’s Corners residents in “Daily Life,” follows them through the joys of “Love and Marriage,” and finally transports them in “Death” to an omniscient perspective, where they look down from the expanded view of eternity with transcendent peace. 

In Our Town, Wilder's humanistic theme to appreciate the ordinary—the here and now—is perhaps a simple idea, but the depth of understanding to play the roles convincingly and with maturity is not typical for high school students. However, the Sayville Players accomplished this feat with extraordinary maturity. High School Drama Director Doug Shaw had high praise for the abilities the students brought to the production.  “They were awesome,” he said.

 

photos courtesy of Sergio Diaz