I am a member of "Generation Jones" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_Jones
I grew up in a suburb of Boston as did my parents (the same suburb). It was not Grover's Corners; well, maybe it was...a little bit. My grandmothers both grew up in Grover's Corners-like towns. Both of my grandfathers passed away before I was born. Growing up, I heard story after story about what it was like for my grandmothers growing up; especially my paternal grandmother. That grandmother was about 10 years old when Halley's Comet made it's 1910 appearance. Samuel Clemens/Mark Twain was born during the comet's 1835 appearance and correctly predicted he would die upon it's return in 1910. My grandmother remembered watching it from her backyard in Massachusetts and told the story often. When Halley's Comet made it's next appearance, in February of 1986, I couldn't wait for it to show up in the night sky. Honestly though, it was kind of a bust. What they call "light pollution" in the city sky made the comet almost impossible to see without sophisticated equipment, etc. Yet my grandmother and her family saw it with unaided eyes from the backyard of their house in 1910. I remember asking my grandmother, who passed away in 1988, if she *really* did see the comet in 1910. She most certainly did remember it.
I saw my first production of OUR TOWN when it was presented by the senior class in my high school. I was a high school junior at the time. I knew the student playing Emily, but I had never seen her act in a play. For me (and I had seen a number of Broadway productions, musicals and plays, by this time...in Boston and on Broadway), this was the most profoundly moving experience I'd ever had watching a live production. I was only 16 years old. From stories I'd grown up with from my grandparents, aunts and uncles, etc., I felt like I knew these characters. My parents, who were raised by people who had grown up at the turn of the 20th Century, were one generation closer to it than I was...but I did hear and learn about it from people who were there. Their experiences were always in my head when I read books and took classes to learn more about those times that were so fascinating to me.
In 2003 I saw Paul Newman as the stage manager in a revival at the Booth Theatre. I was bracing for the emotional whammy of Act 3, but it didn't happen. I really enjoyed the production, but after 9/11 only several years earlier and all of the other world events and changes I'd lived through since first having my mind literally blown away after seeing OUR TOWN at the impressionable age of 16, it didn't move me.
When I read some of the negative comments about this new production, I think I understand. So much of today's audience for OUR TOWN has no actual connection to the time it was written OR the time that it was written about. Again, I understand. I'm sure there are and will be works now and to come that will really engage audiences that have a direct connection to the premise of the productions. Also, there will be brilliant artists who will be able to take materials out of dusty history books and infuse them with a foundation that relates to today, or the time of their future creation.
I guess there's an argument to be made that OUR TOWN is a product of its time. Some friends of mine who saw the high school production I saw, could not understand why I was so moved by it. Others got it.
This post only reflects my opinion. If you've made it this far, give yourself a virtual gold star for your forehead; Generation Jones kids will get that.
