Two words: we cried. We went, we watched, we left the play in tears as the message behind the storyline was strongly conveyed through the drama team's representation of the play Our Town. Our Town is a story originally written by Thornton Wilder, winning awards for best play in 1938. Fun fact, Our Town is making its way to New York’s Broadway later this year!
The San Joaquin College drama team reenacted the multilingual adaptation of the play with translated passages by Nilo Cruz and Jeff Agustin. The play was directed by Karen Vance, an assistant professor of drama at Delta College. The cast consisted of students, both Spanish and English speaking.
It started with a strong call to action for the audience to channel their inner visualizers, as imagination played a key role when spectating. The Stage Manager (played by Delta student Ella Bryant-Frey) played a quirky and energetic narrator. She began by describing the town in a manner that left no detail undescribed from the town smell to the town's people.
The adaptation was both in English and Spanish, providing for a diverse audience to connect with the characters. The plot revolved around Emily Webb (played by Delta student Alexa Hernandez) falling in love with George Gibbs (played by Delta student Codey Court). It was a young love, coming of age story that accurately depicted the love, trials, and heartaches that comes with growing up.
As the characters of Emily Webb and George Gibbs grew up, the families were struck with tragedy with the death of Emily Webb. The play came to an end with the death of Emily Webb. The overall message of the storyline being that of human beings not valuing life until they are no longer in it. This message left more than one person in the room teary-eyed.
Overall, the performance displayed a plethora of local talent. Catch the next play put on by San Joaquin Delta College drama department on July 11-21, 2024 - "Urinetown The Musical!" Learn all about upcoming productions here.
