About Our Town


“No curtain. No scenery.” A minimalist theatrical style sets apart the 1938 recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama: Thornton Wilder’s Our Town. Wilder’s greatest and best-known work as a playwright, Our Town opens with the Stage Manager’s introduction to Grover’s Corners, a fictional town based on Peterborough, New Hampshire where Wilder often spent his summers. The sparse and symbolic qualities of the set suggest Wilder’s intention to make Grover’s Corners represent all towns.1 The Stage Manager, played by Wilder himself for two weeks in the 1938 Broadway production, breaks the fourth wall by directly addressing the audience. The Stage Manager also assumes control over the onstage action through such unconventional, metatheatrical devices as prompting actors and cueing scene changes. Once the actors have been set in motion by the Stage Manager in Act I, entitled, “Daily Life,” the allegorical world of Grover’s Corners unfolds. 

-The Thornton Wilder Society (http://www.twildersociety.org/works/our-town/)

ConVal High School

The ConVal High School Theatre Arts program is produced by Elizabeth Moore. Each season features a musical, a play, a student-directed feature, and a musical theatre-focused cabaret. Both ConVal High School faculty and community members direct a series of productions and workshops throughout the season. Student leaders in the International Thespian Society #7883 support the season through student-led crews and other theatrical events and activities. 


The department also supports the efforts of the Contoocook Visual and Performing Arts Center. More information on their mission is available at http://convalvpac.org/.


Visit www.cvlht.com for more information on our season!