The Birth of Living and Dying ...

"Sometimes less is really less," states writer and executive producer Tony Vellela, speaking about his new project for PBS called Character Studies.

"When we first launched this project more than a year ago, we produced three half-hour documentaries about great characters from the most significant plays and musicals of the last hundred years." The line-up featured Amanda from "The Glass Menagerie," Rose from "Gypsy" and Ruth from "A Raisin in the Sun." Hosts were Eli Wallach, Eric Stoltz and Phylicia Rashad. Vellela adds that the critical and public response was very positive.

"But it always felt that we were leaving so much out, having only twenty-six minutes and forty-six seconds to tell these stories." After consulting with PBS, the Character Studies production team hit on a new idea - to produce a one-hour special, and see whether the longer format would help to present these complex characters more fully.

And at that point "Character Studies: Living and Dying in 'Our Town'" was born. The new, hourlong special permits viewers to take a closer, more textured look at the stories of iconic couple George and Emily, and then experience the world they lived in. "This has brought new dimensions to our story-telling. We can dig much deeper, and challenge the conventional wisdom about this play. There are many more dark shadows in this piece than most people realize or remember" Vellela explains. "Characters in great theatrical works, like people in everyday life, do not function in a vacuum. To fill out these stories, we've drawn from a dozen different sets of interviews, covering productions that span half a century."

In addition to providing the chance to see performances from several productions, and still images from many more, the special includes rarely-seen documentary clips and vintage photographs, to complete the picture of life in "Our Town." "We hope that anyone who views this new format will take a moment, and share their thoughts and comments with us at feedback@characterstudies.net. Your opinion counts."

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

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