Video: OUR TOWN Cast Explores the Town That Inspired Thornton Wilder's Iconic Play

The cast of the upcoming Broadway production of Our Town recently embarked on a memorable journey to Peterborough, New Hampshire, the quaint town that inspired Thornton Wilder’s timeless play. The visit provided the actors with a deeper understanding of the setting that has captured the imaginations of audiences for decades. 

The trip included stops at the Peterborough Town House, where the cast visualized the town meetings depicted in the play, and the MacDowell, an artists' retreat where Wilder himself worked on Our Town. For many of the cast members, this journey was more than just a rehearsal exercise; it was a pilgrimage to the roots of American theater.

Check out photos and a video of the visit below!

Our Town will begin previews on Tuesday, September 17 ahead of an opening on Thursday, October 10 at the Barrymore Theatre (243 West 47th) for a strictly limited engagement. 

About Our Town

The new Broadway production of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town directed by Tony Award-winner Kenny Leon, will feature 28 actors led by Emmy, Golden Globe & Screen Actors Guild Award-winner Jim Parsons as “Stage Manager”, Zoey Deutch as “Emily Webb”, Katie Holmes as “Mrs. Webb”, Obie & Audelco Award-winner and Drama Desk-nominee Billy Eugene Jones as “Dr. Gibbs”, Tony & Grammy Award-nominee Ephraim Sykes as “George Gibbs”, Tony & Drama Desk Award-nominee and Emmy-Award-winner Richard Thomas as “Mr. Webb”, Tony & Drama Desk-nominee Michelle Wilson as “Mrs. Gibbs”, 2021 Special Tony Award-winner and Drama Desk-nominee Julie Halston as “Mrs. Soames”, Donald Webber Jr. as “Simon Stimpson”, as well as Ephie Aardema, Heather Ayers, Willa Bost, Bobby Daye, Safiya Kaijya Harris, Doron JéPaul, Shyla Lefner, Anthony Michael Lopez, John McGinty, Bryonha Marie, Kevyn Morrow, Hagan Oliveras, Noah Pyzik, Sky Smith, Bill Timoney, Matthew Elijah Webb and Nimene Sierra Wureh. The final two cast members will be announced at a later date.

The design team for Our Town will include scenic design by Tony Award-winner Beowulf Boritt (New York, New York; Act One,), costume design by Tony Award-nominee and Drama Desk Award winner Dede Ayite (Jaja’s African Hair Braiding; Topdog/Underdog), lighting design by Tony  Award-nominee Allen Lee Hughes (Topdog/Underdog; A Soldier’s Play), sound design by Tony  Award-nominee Justin Ellington (Ohio State Murders; for colored girls…) and the dialect coach  will be Kate Wilson (The Shark is Broken, The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window). 

Our Town, the timeless drama of life in the mythical village of Grover’s Corners, New  Hampshire, has become an American classic with universal appeal. Thornton Wilder’s most  frequently performed play, Our Town appeared on Broadway in 1938 to wide acclaim, and  won the Pulitzer Prize. From the very beginning, Our Town has been produced throughout the  world. 

Our Town explores the relationship between two young Grover’s Corners neighbors, George  Gibbs and Emily Webb, whose childhood friendship blossoms into romance, and then  culminates in marriage. When Emily loses her life in childbirth, the circle of life portrayed in  each of the three acts of Our Town–growing up, adulthood, and death–is fully realized. Wilder  offers a couple of chairs on a bare stage as the backdrop for an exploration of the universal  human experience. The simple story of a love affair is constantly rediscovered because it asks  timeless questions about the meaning of love, life and death. In the final moments of the play,  the recently deceased Emily is granted the opportunity to revisit one day in her life, only to  discover that she never fully appreciated all she possessed until she lost it. “Oh, earth, you’re  too wonderful for anybody to realize you,” she says as she takes her place among the dead.