HAMILTON DISTRICT CHRISTIAN HIGH
92 Glancaster Road Ancaster, ON L9G 3K9
905.648.6655 | hdch.org
Spring 2016
Dear Educator,
Thank you for your interest in Hamilton District Christian
High’s production of Our Town by Thornton Wilder. We’ve
been working hard to make this an exceptional story ready
for the HDCH stage, and we are excited to have your students
join us!
To make your visit here both enjoyable and educationally
valuable, we have prepared an education package which
you may use if you wish. Included in this package is an
introduction to the play, providing both some historical and
thematic background.
Also in this package are some pre-viewing questions
designed to prompt students into thinking about items raised
in the play.
If time allows, we hope to provide your students with the
opportunity to ask cast and crew members questions
following the show. Prior to your arrival, it might be helpful to
brainstorm a list of questions the students might want to ask
the actors or director.
Finally we have provided a series of wrap-up questions.
We hope you will find this information helpful, and if there are
any questions you need answered, please feel free to contact
us.
Sincerely,
Karin Boonstra and Sara Whetstone: Directors
Sara Whetstone: Producer
Our Town
By Thornton Wilder
PLAYS @ HIGH SCHOOL
It is a complicated process to select a play to perform at the high school.
The director selects a play, presents the selection to the program committee for approval, secures the rights to the play, and then begins the
casting and rehearsal process.
From start to finish, it takes approximately nine months of hard work for a
play to make it to the HDCH stage.
WHY THIS ONE?
So what made us decide to do Our Town at Hamilton District Christian
High this year? That is a fairly complicated question to answer. Here are
some of the factors that influenced the decision.
The past two years HDCH has produced shows that are whimsical and
based on fairy tales. While this has been lots of fun, we felt it was time to
go back to traditional theatre roots with a dramatic play.
Directors also must consider the actors that are available in the current
school year. Some years there are more male actors, some years more
female. Equality in role must be factored into any decision.
Our Town presents the audience with some big questions about the value
of life which still pertain to us even 100 years later. We believe that it is
important to value and savour the life that God has given us on this earth,
“every, every minute.”
PRE-VIEWING DISCUSSION QUESTIONS & ACTIVITIES
Our Town is a play about the daily lives of people in a small town in the United States at the turn of the 20th Century.
Before you watch the play, discuss the questions below as a way to consider some of the issues the play raises.
Think about your own home town.
• Is it small or large? Urban, suburban, or rural?
• What other characteristics would you ascribe to
your town or city?
• What do you like best and least?
• Make a list of the characteristics and compare
with others in the class.
• Do you think you will stay in your home town
once you leave school?
Create a timeline on paper using these events.
In groups of four, have students compare their
timelines. Ask students to keep their timelines in mind
when they watch Our Town.
•
What similarities and differences do they notice
between characters’ lives in the time of the play
and the contemporary lives of young people?
Share with a partner a typical day in your own life.
• How might your day be turned into a play?
This activity draws on the theme of “seize the day”
in Our Town. Students will reflect on how technology in our modern world obscures time and prevents
us from seizing the day.
All drama needs an exposition, conflict, and
denouement.
How might a play about daily life fit into this pattern?
In small groups of 4-5, brainstorm other books, films,
TV shows, or movies that portray daily life. Explore
differences and similarities between the items on your
list.
On a piece of paper have students write words and
phrases that answer the questions:
• Why do you use technology?
• How does technology help us?
• How does it hurt us?
Our Town observes main characters maturing over
time from late childhood to early adulthood. While
viewing the play you will identify some major,
defining events in various characters’ lives.
Ask students to imagine themselves as playwrights of
a play written about them. What defining moments
from their lives would they include?
Assign students into pairs. With their partner, share
the information on the paper. After a few minutes, discuss technology use with the entire class. (Stress that
not all technology use is wrong. The problem is how it
is used and how often!)
•
•
•
Why do we feel the need to be connected all the
time?
Why is silence and/or being alone viewed as
weird?
Have you missed out on any aspect of life because of technology?
WRAP-UP DISCUSSION
Thanks again for joining us for the matinee performance of Our Town.
Now that you have seen the play, take an opportunity
to discuss the following questions based on the HDCH
production.
When Our Town was first produced, it was considered
radical due to the
staging (lack of set and props).
• Why was the design so simple?
• Do you still think it is radical today? Why or why
not?
• Do you think this play could work in another setting (i.e. urban area)? In another time (i.e. modern
era)? In another country? Why or why not?
The role of the Stage Manager is different from the
other characters in the play.
What is the purpose of the character? How does the
character control the sense of time in the play (introducing the past, referring to the future, etc.)
The Stage Manager relays a lot of information about
the town and its residents. He also states, “In our town,
we like to know the facts about everybody.”
• What do you think the Stage Manager means by
that quote?
• Is it a good or bad thing to know everything about
everyone in a place?
• Does this still happen today?
• How has technology impacted our knowledge/
perception of others?
One of the themes of the play is relationships (husband/wife, mother/daughter, father/son, etc.)
• What relationship do the children have with the
adults in the play?
• How is it different from today?
• How is it the same?
• What do the parents see their roles as being?
• What are some of the disappointments/regrets
expressed by the characters?
• Why do you think the playwright chose to give us
this information?
Another theme explored in the play is love (familial love,
romantic love, etc.).
• What are the various attitudes towards love and marriage in the play?
In Act II, we flash back to the moment when George and
Emily realized they were in love.
• Why is this scene important?
• Why was it shown this way in the play, and not in “real
time” as it happened?
A third theme explored in the play is life vs. death.
• What are the names of the three acts of the play?
• Why are they important?
• How does the Stage Manager explain death and its
effects?
• What opinions on life do the dead give to Emily?
• Why do the dead urge Emily not to go back to a day in
her life?
• Why do they tell her to pick an “unimportant” day?
Each play production is different from the last. Directors
choose to emphasize different things in their creative
decision making process.
• What is one creative decision from our production that
you liked?
• If you were the director of Our Town, what would you
have done differently?
An important part of any production is the design of
posters, tickets, and other art. Developing a poster for
the play is complicated. You want to reflect some of the
play’s ideas and you want to make people excited about
seeing the play.
• Did you see the HDCH poster for the play?
• What did you think?
Try drawing your own poster for the play. You could choose
a favourite scene or character for inspiration, or you could
try to combine a number of ideas into a more thematic
poster.
HAMILTON DISTRICT CHRISTIAN HIGH