Wolfpack Theatre opens season with timeless classic ‘Our Town’
Stage Manager, played by Gabby Cantrell-Musson, and Mrs. Webb, played by Brenna Ernst, in the upcoming production of "Our Town" at Glacier High School. (Courtesy photo)
The Wolfpack Theatre Company at Glacier High School will open the 2023-2024 theater season with Thornton Wilder’s timeless classic “Our Town” on Sept. 18, 19, and 20 at 6:33 p.m. in the Wolfpack Theatre at Glacier High School.
Advanced tickets for the show are available on GoFan, Glacier’s online ticketing service, and at Photo Video Plus. Any remaining tickets will also be sold at the door. Ticket prices are $8 for adults and $6 for children, students and senior citizens. To access the ticketing service, go to gofan.co and search for Glacier High School. Each night of the production is listed for ticket purchase.
On the surface, “Our Town” follows the everyday lives of the citizens of the small, fictional town of Grover's Corner. It is a simple story of two families, who grow up side by side and experience all of life’s major milestones, including the love and marriage of their precious children, that spans 15 years and explores the meaning of love, life, and death. It reminds the audience of a simpler life in a slower world full of choir rehearsals, gardens of string beans, milkmen, paperboys and ice cream sodas.
As the play unfolds in three separate acts: “Daily Life,” “Love and Marriage” and “Death and Eternity,” the audience begins to see that the story does not just celebrate the nostalgia, but leads the audience to ponder the brevity of human life and to begin to appreciate what they have while they have it.
“‘Our Town’ is a beautiful, classic piece of literature that celebrates the mundanities of daily life,” said the show’s director and the Director of the Wolfpack Theatre Company Ivanna Fritz. “We are all so wrapped up in making everything ‘perfect’ or picture-worthy that we forget what really matters. This story reminds us to celebrate love and friendship and the ties to one another.”
In 1938, “Our Town” won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and it still remains one of the most enduring American plays of all time. Described as "one of the greatest American plays ever written," the show remains popular even today due to its nostalgic nature as well as its timeless message.
“The script is set in 1901 but we chose to use costuming from 2023. We did this because the story's theme and messages have transcended time,” said Fritz. “It has been a little funny to watch a milkman and a housewife/mom in business suits. We chose to ‘dress up’ for the importance of the subject. Life is worth living and you should enjoy every minute.”
Even before class schedules were released, the cast of “Our Town” was deep into rehearsals for this first show of the season. Fritz and the show’s tech director, Sara Menssen, held auditions three weeks before the first day of school in order to fully produce the show and, in turn, fit the performances into the busy GHS fall activities schedule.
“The fall show is one of my favorites because we get to start school out ‘right.’ Kids are excited to be together, there's no distractions from the other parts of school and they still get to go out and have summer in the afternoon. We start school with a cast of people to say hi to in the halls, know who we can eat lunch with, and overall make school more comfortable.”
The cast of “Our Town” includes Gabby Cantrell-Musson, Drew Crane, Kaylin Stein, Zaden Stout, Hayden Holloway, Blake Lindemann, Brenna Ernst, Daniel Cole, Ellie Fiala, Ulrich Warner, Gabriel Luehr, Ben Colby, Calvin Casey, Gabby LeDuc, Theron Wilton, K Perigen, Isabelle McKoy, Quinn Dunham, Anya Rountree, Annabeth O'Shea, Daniel Cole, Zach Nases, Toben Mallo and Maeva Malcheski.
Creating the magic behind the scenes, the technical crew includes Andrea Chandler, Alden Lamson, Rita Henshaw, Megan Mikelson, Brody Cummings, Kelsea Bemis, Myla Lamson and Chloe Franklin.