Classic play visits 'Our Town'

By: Catherine Yu-Shan Hsieh

Posted: 4/2/07

The invisible curtain was raised Saturday evening at the Black Box Theater on East Genessee Street, as Eric Bilitch, a senior acting major at Syracuse University, entered the room, dragging a big box to the front of the stage. Thornton Wilder's, "Our Town," greeted the audience.

The show was presented by Black Box Players, an SU theatrical student organization.

"Our Town" is notable because it is to be performed with little scenery, no set nor props. The play relies completely on the actors, who in this case were a group of SU students.

These students transformed the narrow aisle in the audience into a street, two squares chalked out on the stage into two houses, through group chemistry and each individual's performance.

"The student direction is really good," said Sophie Benhamou, a freshman film major. "The script, the production, the lighting, the acting, everything,"

A three-act play, "Our Town" is divided into "Daily Life," "Marriage and Love" and "Death." The play depicts the interactions of ordinary people in an everyday town in the early 20th century, focusing on the lives of Emily Webb, a newspaper editor's daughter, and George Gibbs, a doctor's son.

What is interesting about "Our Town" is there is a main character, the stage manager, played by Bilitch, who conducts the play and interacts with the audience. Bilitch did an excellent job in the role as he made the actors freeze with a snap of fingers, or as he softened his voice and asked the viewers to remember the moment when they first fell in love.

Emily, George and George's sister Rebecca, played respectively by Carli Fitzgerald, a senior acting major, Daniel Scott, a senior musical theater major and Anna Hadingham, a senior acting major, convinced the audience the existence of a big, bright moon in the sky as they stood on two ladders and gazed into distance, creating a scene of elevated windows of two neighboring houses.

While the giddy scenes from the first two acts generated quite a few laughs, solemnity befell in the final act, when Emily's funeral took place. The audience was enthralled when Emily, played by Fitzgerald, wept about her lost youth and happiness.

"I liked the worldly quality (of the third act,)" said Daria Maidenbaum, a freshman stage management major. "It puts things into perspective."

The flow of the play was smooth, the delivery of lines precise, the acting strong. Though there is always room for improvement with a show, especially one by non-professionals, "Our Town" definitely stood out as a student work that effectively combined an engaging performance with solid production.