Our Town Play Analysis

Algona High School’s production of “Our Town” by playwright Thornton Wilder shows that life in itself is beautiful and interesting, but that humans take it for granted every day. This is shown by the activities of everyday people living in Grover’s Corner, New Hampshire. This play shows that even the most mundane tasks and daily activities are still valuable and significant in life, and that though you may not see the end coming, it will come, and that this life we have is transient. The first scene starts with the Stage Manager, who acts as the narrator, directly telling the audience the setting, which is Grover’s Corner, New Hampshire. The date is the 7th of May, 1901. She also includes that this is the first act. She describes the town, and introduces the two main families, the Gibbs and the Webb’s. The Gibbs family consists of Dr. Gibbs, the town doctor, his wife Mrs. Gibbs, who cares for her garden, her family, and her home, …show more content…
It first shows Dr. Gibbs returning home from delivering twins to a new mother. He chats up the paper boy, Joe Crowell Jr., and the Stage Manager tells the audience on how intelligent Joe was, and how he was going to become an engineer, but alas died in France during WWII. Attention is then directed into the homes, where Mrs. Gibbs and Mrs. Webb start their daily chores such as feeding the children. The children, in a hurry, eat their breakfast so they arrive to school on time. Mrs. Gibbs and Mrs. Webb both go on to do daily chores, such as cleaning and stringing beans. Dr. Gibbs leaves for work, while Mr. Webb also leaves. The two mother’s of the households assist each other with chores, while Mrs. Gibbs fantasizes to Mrs. Webb about Dr. Gibb taking her to Paris, and wishing she could convince him of it. She decides she has plenty of time to convince him and keeps stringing beans. The Stage Manager then dismisses the two women, and the mothers return to their