By Beverly Richards,
Special to the AFRO
Located in the heartbeat of Baltimore, play lovers united to see Stevie Walker-Webb’s contemporary take on the American classic, “Our Town,” by Thornton Wilder. The play focuses on community and how we live this life connected, “two-by-two.”
That sense of community hits you immediately when you enter Center Stage. People young and “seasoned,” cheerfully leave notes and color on the posters that are obviously meant to draw everyone closer. As you walk into the auditorium, your heart stops as you take in the immensity of the moon. Knowing it was to prepare you for the offering of a new day.
Perhaps it is easier to describe Walker-Webb’s production of “Our Town” as a comparative construction to Thornton Wilder’s classic play. The Center Stage assembly remained true to the four themes of daily life, love and marriage and death. The interweaving of these matters are the fabric of life.
Wilder’s “Our Town” is rich and substantial, particularly the dialog. The language was Wilder’s.
“We couldn’t change the language,” said lead actor Lance Coadie Williams. “It is so beautiful and universal.”
In the original play there are no curtains, no props, nothing to distract you. You are forced to be in the moment.
The stage manager, who is the guide through the play, brings two tables and chairs. He tells the audience where all the major buildings in Grover’s Corner are located and provides some relevant facts about the town. Walker-Webb, however, used thematic props to represent Baltimore City as a means of providing the audience with a “closer to home” feel.
Walker-Webb’s production seemed to have the effect he may have been hoping for on Stephen Wing, nostalgia, the passing of time and the changes that a community experiences. He recalled his favorite candy shop was the Candy Kitchen on Pennsylvania Avenue. “I used to go there to get my candy and sweets,” he shared.
The beauty of Charm City is on full display for audience members. There are the familiar Baltimore stoops, streetlights with a tennis shoe strung around the pole to mark territory, and a half-torn rat eradication sign on one of the lights. And the show opens with people of all various colors and ethnicities walking across the stage, moving, and going, unlike the slow-paced opening of the original.
In its strength, Wilder’s version–however classic– displayed the predictability of his time—women’s work, the traditional family. Walker-Webb showed the metamorphosis of society. Roles have evolved. Daily life in Baltimore includes the sometimes intrusion of a squeegee kid, biracial families, men, and women able to live in their authenticity– even the actors in the play had non-traditional parts.
“The play had Black people, White people. Women playing the roles of men. The play was molded to fit the times,” said Aaron Walker, an attendee at the performance. “They kept the integrity of the play, in that I didn’t care who you were or where you were from, you could relate to everything that went on.”
Help us Continue to tell OUR Story and join the AFRO family as a member – subscribers are now members! Join here!