Review: APT's "Our Town" finds meaning in the mundane

Tara Awate, The Daily Cardinal

American Players Theatre is located in Spring Green, a village an hour away from Madison. On the ride there, there’s only verdant green fields on both sides of the road.

You’ll know when you arrive that there’s nothing quite like it in Wisconsin.

Their season is mainly limited to the summer, and it’s been called “the finest classical theater festival” in the United States. There are two theaters, one indoors and one outdoors. The outdoor theater is the Hill Theater and is situated on a hill in the middle of the woods. One needs to hike for a bit to get there.

The play ‘Our Town,’ written by Wisconsin native Thornton Wilder is playing at the theater for the first time in 30 years and runs until Sept. 22. The play, first produced in 1938, follows the lives of the residents of the early 1900s, sleepy fictional town of Grover’s Corners, but mainly the lives of young couple Emily Webb and George Gibbs. The defining characteristic of the play is the stage manager, who directly addresses the audience and breaks the fourth wall. She pops in after most scenes to narrate the backstory and is an omniscient presence.

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