New twists added to NCC's production of 'Our Town'

Candace Taylor knew Thornton Wilder's "Our Town" is something of a theatrical chestnut about family life and community.

So when the guest director began to put together North Central College's version, she gave the 1938 classic just enough tweaks to make it distinctive.

"I wanted to make it a lot different from productions that have gone before," she said. "The biggest concept thing I did was to cut the cast down to 12 people. Several actors play multiple roles."

The story, narrated by a stage manager who guides the audience through scenes from the lives of several characters living in a fictional town, opens tonight at the Naperville college's Meiley-Swallow Hall.

Taylor was invited to direct the show by North Central theater professor Carin Silkaitis.

"I taught for the theater conservatory at Roosevelt University. Candace also taught there," Silkaitis said. "She's a very strong personality. I thought it'd be good for my students."

Silkaitis said she wanted to give her students a fresh perspective by bringing in an outside director. She also wanted to introduce them to a theatrical gem, Wilder's script.

"They sort of scoff at the classics. What I always tell them is they become classics for a reason. It's so full of human spirit and fight," she said. "It's really timeless."

Taylor, a veteran theater professor and actress making her North Central debut with "Our Town," said several actors play as many as four roles.

"To make it make sense, we're looking at the play as though these are actors coming to rehearse the production," she said. "I'm making it a play within a play."

It also gives cast members a more substantial opportunity to test their acting mettle.

"They're representing characters differently by their physical and vocal choices," Taylor said.

There's one actor, she said, who transitions from playing an 11-year-old boy to portraying a 60-year-old policeman.

"These students are great to work with. I've found them extremely enthusiastic and dedicated," she said.

Freshman musical theater major Hannah Toriumi plays the stage manager.

"She has me virtually never out of the theater," Toriumi said of Taylor, explaining that the stage manager is always visible to the audience, even when she's on the sidelines watching the action along with the audience.

The message that reverberates through the show, Toriumi said, is the preciousness of life.

"We need to take life for every minute that we have it. People don't really realize life as they're living it," she said.

The stage manager is a kind of tour guide through memorable moments in the characters' lives.

"Candy wants us to look at the stage manager as this omnipotent character," Toriumi said. "Everything that goes on in this town gives me joy. It's my pride and joy, the town."

Toriumi, who played the principle female lead of Emily Webb in a high school production of the play, said the stage manager role is particularly challenging because it requires the memorization of several long monologues.

"I really wanted to audition for it because I absolutely loved it in high school," she said. "I was very excited about it, but it was daunting at the same time."

<p class="factboxheadblack">"Our Town"</p> <p class="News"><b>When:</b> 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday, Feb. 12-14; 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 15</p> <p class="News"><b>Where: </b>Meiley-Swallow Hall, 31 S. Ellsworth St., Naperville</p> <p class="News"><b>Tickets:</b> $10, $8 for students and seniors</p> <p class="News"><b>Info:</b> (630) 637-7469 or <a href="http://www.northcentralcollege.edu" target="new">northcentralcollege.edu</a></p> <div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=271244">Director's cut: 'Our Town' <span class="date">[2/12/09]</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>