Lauded in Chicago in 2008, the East Coast run (starting Feb. 17 and opening Feb. 26) of the classic play by Thornton Wilder will (as previously announced) feature director Cromer as the Stage Manager. The cast will also include Jeremy Beiler as Sam Craig, Rob Beitzel as Howie Newsome, Kati Brazda as Mrs. Webb, George Demas as Constable Warren, Donna Jay Fulks as Mrs. Soames, Jennifer Grace as Emily, Wilbur Edwin Henry as Professor Willard, Adam Hinkle as Joe Crowell, James McMenamin as George, Jeff Still as Doc Gibbs, Ken Marks as Editor Webb, Jonathan Mastro as Simon Stimson, Seamus Mulcahy as Wally Webb, Lori Myers as Mrs. Gibbs, Jay Russell as Joe Stoddard and Jason Yachanin as Si Crowell.
Scott Morfee, Jean Doumanian and Tom Wirtshafter are producing.
Barrow Street Theatre (27 Barrow Street) "will be completely redesigned for this production."
The physical production, as indicated in the script by Thornton Wilder, is bare-bones and highly presentational. Our Town won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1938 and is one of the best-known American plays of the 20th century. It charts the range of human experience in a tale of two families in small-town Grover's Corners, NH, "just across the Massachusetts line," between 1901-13.
The action famously "takes place in, among and around the audience, creating an intimacy between actors and audience and a powerful encounter with the play's searching questions about family, community and mortality," according to the producers. *
This production marks the official debut collaboration between Jean Doumanian Productions and Barrow Street Theatre who recently announced a creative partnership "to bring innovative works and artists to Off-Broadway."
The creative team for Our Town features Michele Spadaro (set design and props), Alison Siple (costume design) and Heather Gilbert (lighting design). The production stage manager is Richard A. Hodge.
Cromer, who directed last season's acclaimed musical, Adding Machine, will make his Broadway directing debut with Neil Simon's Brighton Beach Memoirs and Broadway Bound.
The performance schedule for Our Town is Tuesday–Friday at 7:30 PM, Saturday at 2:30 PM & 7:30 PM, Sunday at 2:30 PM & 7:30 PM. Tickets are priced at $69 & $40, and available through smarttix (212) 868-4444, www.smarttix.com, or at the Barrow Street Theatre box office (open at 1 PM daily).
Barrow Street Theatre is located at 27 Barrow Street at 7th Avenue South in the heart of Greenwich Village. For more information, visit ourtownoffbroadway.com or barrowstreettheatre.com.
