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ERIC STOLTZ had his first encounter with "Our Town" as a boy, playing the newsboy Joe Crowell in a regional theatre production in Santa Barbara in 1974. Eric finally portrayed the lead role of George Gibbs in the Lincoln Center production presented on Broadway in 1989, with Penelope Ann Miller as Emily, and Spalding Gray as the Stage Manager. Click here (Quicktime 34MB) and here (Windows Media 120MB) to see and hear extensive comments not included in the PBS special. [Running time: 38:29]

FRANCES CONROY was also introduced to Thornton Wilder's classic play while still in school. She played Emily in a production staged by a high school friend. She tells us about her portrayal of Mrs. Gibbs on Broadway, playing the mother to Eric Stoltz's George. Click here (Quicktime 20MB) and here (Windows Media 43MB) to see and hear extensive comments not included in the PBS special. [Running time: 22:52]

TOM JONES, the acclaimed book writer and lyricist of the classic long-running American musical "The Fantasticks," has always revered Wilder's "Our Town," and together with his composer Harvey Schmidt, used it as source material for their musical "Grover's Corners." When the musical premiered at the Lincolnshire Marriott Theatre, Jones performed the role of the Stage Manager. Click here (Quicktime 26MB) to see and here (Windows Media 79MB) to see and hear extensive comments not included in the PBS special. [Running time: 29:12]

JAMES NAUGHTON [director] brought his production of "Our Town" from Connecticut's Westport Country Playhouse, where it opened in the summer of 2001, to a successful Broadway run the following season, and eventually to a filmed version which was telecast on Showtime and on PBS. The Playhouse production was the idea of its Artistic Director Joanne Woodward, and in that production, her husband, Paul Newman, played the Stage Manager. Click here (Quicktime 52MB) and here (Windows Media 70MB) to see and hear extensive comments not included in the PBS special.

Living and Dying in 'Our Town' is a production of Character Studies

© 2007 Character Studies Productions Inc. All Rights Reserved. Published May 16, 2007