BIGFORK — The classic play Our Town is set to be staged at the Edge Center for the Arts in Bigfork.
Director Patty Feld first brought the play to Bigfork 25 years ago. She joined the KAXE Morning Show ahead of opening night and discussed her love of the musical and the universal messages of the production.
Feld noted productions of the play have been staged in communities after tragic events, and Our Town is an appropriate selection for a post-pandemic theatrical experience.
“We had been apart in this area of Minnesota, as many people all over the world had been apart during the pandemic,” she said. “And this is the most unifying kind of play that any group can put on with their own people and come back together.”
Featuring a huge cast including local church choirs and actors of all ages, the Pulitzer Prize winning Thornton Wilder play is a dramatic telling of life in the mythical village of Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire — first appearing on Broadway in 1938.
The play "is an attempt to find value above all price for the smallest events in our daily life.”Patty Feld, Director
It explores the relationship between George Gibbs and Emily Webb, Grover’s Corners residents whose childhood friendship becomes romance and marriage. The circle of life — growing up, adulthood and death — is the theme of this three-act play.
Feld described Wilder as a brilliant man who gave the play meaning beyond the surface.
“He puts into it everything that happens in a small town and then juxtaposes it … to how long it takes a star’s light to get to earth,” Feld said. “He says so beautifully, that it is an attempt to find a value above all price for the smallest event in our daily life. And therefore, we should all remember that our life is important.”
Our Town can be seen four times: 6:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, April 27-29, and 2 p.m. Sunday, April 30. Admission is $10 for adults and $5 for students. There’s a special family rate for children accompanied by an adult.