Everything Nac

The everyday lives of the citizens of the small fictional American town of Grover’s Corners will come to life on the campus of Stephen F. Austin State University when the School of Theatre presents the multi award-winning play by Thornton Wilder, “Our Town.”

Presented at 7:30 nightly Tuesday through Saturday, Feb. 22 through 26, in Kennedy Auditorium on the SFA campus, “Our Town” is a winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Revival and Tony Award for Best Revival and is universally acknowledged as a classic of American drama. Three-time Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Edward Albee called it “a masterpiece….probably the finest American play written so far.”

Although “Our Town” is one of the most frequently produced plays in the American theatre, it doesn’t have much of a plot, and it doesn’t tell a “traditional dramatic story in a traditional way,” according to Scott Shattuck, professor of theatre at SFA and the play’s director. And that’s one reason why Shattuck selected this play to be presented in this year’s Mainstage Series.

“By describing and performing the gentle beauty of everyday life in small town America at the turn of the 20th century,” Shattuck said, “the play somehow entrances audiences at the breakfast tables of two neighboring families and a drugstore soda fountain where two shy teenagers fall in love over strawberry egg creams. Our ambition in mounting this production is to be as simple and authentic as this most honest of plays and its humble characters.”

Additionally, because the School of Theatre has made its temporary home in Kennedy Auditorium while the Griffith Fine Arts Building, which houses W.M. Turner Auditorium, is under renovation and expansion, “Our Town” is well-suited for the small, unassuming stage of Kennedy Auditorium.

“It was written to be performed without a traditional stage set, and while our Mainstage seasons are being produced in a lecture hall rather than a theatre, it suggested itself as a play that might be appropriate to mount with a minimum of scenic production values,” Shattuck said. Yet, the play has some surprises in store, Shattuck explained, as actors are called upon to “narrate and lecture, interrupt their own action, change characters from one scene to the next, and simultaneously embrace the artificiality and the genuineness of the play.”

Shattuck describes Wilder’s theme in “Our Town” as “clear as a bell, so I needn’t state it here.” In his book “Another Day’s Begun: Thornton Wilder’s Our Town in the 21st Century,” Howard Sherman wrote: “…it is a charge to every audience to think about…how they approach life, to appreciate life and appreciate others while we have them.”

Among some people, “Our Town” has a reputation like that of “a sweet-but-dull elderly relative who spins sepia-toned nostalgia at holiday dinners,” according to Shattuck. Although there is no cursing, no violence, no sex, no drugs and minimal references to smoking and drinking, this three-act play “will be best appreciated by adults who have experienced the heartache as well as the joy of a life fully lived,” he said.

“Our challenge is not only to convey Wilder’s message of the profound significance of apparently insignificant experience, but to embody it,” Shattuck said. “Without a lot of colorful scenery, explosive special effects, fancy costumes, fierce conflict, hair-raising suspense, or laugh-a-minute hijinks, we’ll have little to rely on but the heartfelt honesty of our actors and the richness of Wilder’s writing. Still, we promise an evening that will be anything but boring.”

General ticket prices are: $15, adult; $10, senior (62+); $7.50, SFA faculty/staff; $7.50, youth; $5, student. Purchase tickets at boxoffice.sfasu.edu or call (936) 468-6407. For questions about the play, contact the School of Theatre at (936) 468-4003.

The School of Music at Stephen F. Austin State University will present “Girl Power,” a concert featuring art songs for voice and piano written by women composers, at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 7, in Cole Concert Hall on the SFA campus.

The performance will include works by Margaret Bonds, Jennifer Higdon, Lori Laitman, Maria Theresia von Paradies and Caitlin Vincent.

Laitman’s “Four Dickinson Songs,” set to poems by American poet Emily Dickinson, will be performed. “Of special note is the third song, ‘If I …,’ which Lori dedicated to her father on his 80th birthday,” said Dr. Ron Petti, director of collaborative piano at SFA and pianist for the performance. “He lived to be almost 100. These songs have very expressive melodies and harmonies.”

Higdon’s “Lilacs” is a setting of Walt Whitman’s poem “when lilacs last in the dooryard bloom’d.” “This song is ethereal in scope,” Petti said. “Three additional songs by Jennifer Higdon, ‘Morning Opens,’ ‘In Our Quiet’ and ‘To Home,’ serve as tender, short musical gems.”

Jamie Weaver, associate professor of music history, will provide a short lecture to begin the recital and will also perform, including one selection by one of Mozart’s contemporaries, Maria Theresia von Paradies.

Two selections by African-American composer Margaret Bonds are included. These songs are reminiscent of the African-American spiritual, Petti said.

The program concludes with “Ahab” by Juliana Hall. A monodrama set to text by Caitlin Vincent, the work takes an imaginary approach to the final moments in the life of Herman Melville’s character, Captain Ahab, from the novel “Moby Dick.” Musical figures depicting the water in the movement of the sea are found throughout the work.

In addition to Petti and Weaver, other music faculty members performing are Debbie Berry, soprano; Ric Berry, tenor; Nita Hudson, mezzo soprano; Scott LaGraff, baritone; and Chris Turner, baritone.

Tickets are $8 for adults, $6 for seniors and $3 for students and youth. To purchase tickets, call the SFA Fine Arts Box Office at (936) 468-6407 or visit finearts.sfasu.edu. For additional information, contact the SFA School of Music at (936) 468-4602.