Our Town

By Thornton Wilder

Barrymore Theatre

Directed by Kenny Leon

Costumes by Dede Ayite, Lighting by Allen Lee Hughes,  Sound by Justin Ellington

2024

Donald Weber

(photo: Jessica Alexandra Cancino)

Ephraim Sykes,  Zoey Deutch, Donald Webber, & company

Zoey Deutch & company

Safiya Kaijya Harris, Ephraim Sykes,  Zoey Deutch,  and Jim Parsons

(photo: Jessica Alexandra Cancino)

Jim Parsons & company

(photo: Jessica Alexandra Cancino)

company

Jim Parsons, Anthony Michael Lopez, and company

“The production, despite its Broadway proportions, does much to shorten the distance. Beowulf Boritt’s set, as Wilder requires, is minimal — mostly weather-beaten siding — but also features a nebula of lanterns that extends into the orchestra. (The spectral lighting is by Allen Lee Hughes.) Also connecting you to the action is a wafting scent-scape matched to the action: heliotrope in Act I for the flowers the women grow, vanilla in Act II for sweetness and bacon in Act III for the longings of memory. Up to 30 audience members are seated onstage, blending playgoers into the community.

Act III, nine years further along... Boritt’s set undergoes a simple yet breathtaking transformation to deliver us to the cemetery we’ve heard much about, but now some of the characters from the earlier acts are in it.”                           ~Jesse Green, The New York Times

“On Beowulf Borritt’s gorgeously simple set design – all distressed wooden planks, vertical and horizontal, beautifully lantern-lit by Allen Lee Hughes – that fits well with Wilder’s preferred limited-scenery aesthetic – the large cast of actors from wildly disparate worlds forms a melting pot of Americana.”                  ~Greg Evans, Deadline

“Its outstanding performances and minimalistic set design by Beowulf Boritt highlight the brevity and magic of being alive.”               ~Aramide Tinubu, Variety

“Flickering lanterns on stage and hanging from the rafters form an omnipresent constellation of stars…. On a stage sparsely furnished by Beowulf Boritt is, as tradition has long dictated, not much: some chairs, the odd table, a weather-beaten side of a house with windows. There are no familiar ladders for its young lead characters to climb up to look at each other and the stars.”                           ~Tim Teeman, Daily Beast

“In his preface to the play, Wilder described juxtaposing “the life of a village against the life of the stars.” (In this production, lanterns hang above the audience, swirling toward the stage like a question mark.)… when the teenage George Gibbs and Emily Webb couple up; they pop through windows to talk to each other, Laugh-In style, on the back wall of Beowulf Boritt’s gray and weathered wooden set.”                ~Adam Feldman, Time Out

“Beowulf Boritt has surprises too with his dramatic scenery, highlighted by a cluster of lanterns that soar above the stage like a comet’s tail. In some productions, George and Emily’s bedrooms are represented with ladders, but here, the young lovers talk to each other through windows in a large backdrop that suggests the weather-worn side of a barn. There are also several rows of pews located on both sides of the stage to give a couple dozen audience members the chance to watch from the sidelines. It’s another way to commune with the past.”                           ~Pete Hempstead, Theatermania