I was beyond thrilled when my friend Benn May told me he was in a play. I haven't been to a professionally produced play (not counting college extracurriculars) in years and I LOVE them! I love sitting in the audience anticipating the start, I love perusing the program and reading up on the actors, I love being captivated by live people acting right in front of you, I love the quiet shuffle of set changes in the dark. I love it all!

Our Town is a community play produced by The Portland Players on 420 Cottage Rd. in South Portland. The show premiered last weekend and is returning this February 2-4, and next weekend Feb 9-11.

Friday and Saturday shows are at 7:30pm and Sunday matinees take to the stage at 2:30pm.

The Portland Players website describes the play:

The winner of the 1938 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Our Town, was described by Edward Albee as "...the greatest American play ever written." The story follows the small town of Grover's Corners through three acts: "Daily Life," "Love and Marriage," and "Death and Eternity." Narrated by a stage manager and performed with minimal props and sets, audiences follow the Webb and Gibbs families as their children fall in love, marry, and eventually—in one of the most famous scenes in American theatre—die.

My friend Benn, who plays Simon Stimson, told me why the play is near and dear to his heart. "It's a play that's simultaneously about nothing and everything," he says. "I grew up in a small little town, so that feeling of community and connectivity is something I really relate to. And then it heightens it all the third act by taking us to a completely different world."

Join me in seeing Our Town before they say "that's a wrap!"

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