The Boston production will run Dec. 7, 2012-Jan. 13, 2013. Cromer played the role with a modern touch (cell phone in hand) in Chicago and for part of the long Off-Broadway run. The Boston cast will use some holdovers from earlier casts and new hires. The play is famously set in Grover's Corners, NH, in the early 20th century.
"Because of the exceptionally intimate nature of Cromer's production, the Huntington will present the show in the Roberts Studio Theatre at the Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA. Our Town will be the Huntington's first production in the 200-seat black box since opening the Calderwood Pavilion in 2004.
Cromer's revolutionary staging received critical and audience raves, earned him a 2009 Obie Award for Directing, and won two 2009 Lucille Lortel Awards for Best Revival and Direction. Playing for more than 600 performances at the Barrow Street Theatre in Greenwich Village (after a debut by The Hypocrites in Chicago), the production became the longest running in Our Town's history.
"Renowned for its transparent stagecraft, sensory experience, and the audience's proximity to the actors, the production has been universally recognized for being revelatory yet faithful," according to Huntington notes.
"I am thrilled that our first production in the Roberts will be David's landmark staging of this iconic American play," Huntington artistic director Peter DuBois said in a statement. "Wilder's play mines the depths of our relationship to home and community, and so I find it fitting and deeply satisfying that in addition to directing and reprising his role as the Stage Manager, David will be engaging a company of actors comprised of Boston's best talent alongside company members from his original Barrow Street production." Because of the extreme limited seated availability, tickets to Our Town will at first be available only to Huntington subscribers. Additional titles in the Huntington’s 2012-2013 season will be announced in the coming months, and seated subscriptions will go on sale in March.
Here's how Huntington bills the classic: "In 1901 Grover's Corners, New Hampshire, teenagers George and Emily fall in love, marry, and live out their lives as one small New England town becomes a microcosm of every day life."
Cromer is the recipient of the MacArthur "Genius" Fellowship. His Broadway credits include The House of Blue Leaves and Brighton Beach Memoirs; his Off-Broadway credits include Our Town and Orson's Shadow (Barrow Street Theatre), Adding Machine (Minetta Lane) and When the Rain Stops Falling (Lincoln Center Theater). Chicago credits include A Streetcar Named Desire, Picnic, Booth and Oscar Remembered (Writers Theatre), The Hot l Baltimore and Mojo (Mary-Arrchie Theatre), Come Back, Little Sheba (Shattered Globe), The Cider House Rules (Famous Door) and Angels in America, Parts 1 and 2.
The year 2013 marks the 75th anniversary of Our Town, which played Princeton's McCarter Theatre Boston's Wilbur Theatre in 1938 before moving to New York City.
For more information, visit huntingtontheatre.org.
