Drama club to immerse audience in ‘Our Town’

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Woodland Regional High School drama club members, from left, Matthew LaPorta, Christina Vlamis, Sydney Sills and Riley Clark rehearse a scene March 24 from the club’s upcoming production of ‘Our Town.’ The play opens April 8. –LUKE MARSHALL
Woodland Regional High School drama club members, from left, Matthew LaPorta, Christina Vlamis, Sydney Sills and Riley Clark rehearse a scene March 24 from the club’s upcoming production of ‘Our Town.’ The play opens April 8. –LUKE MARSHALL

BEACON FALLS — The Woodland Regional High School drama club plans to take theatergoers to a small town in New Hampshire with its upcoming production of “Our Town.”

“Our Town,” written by Thornton Wilder, is a play set in the fictional town of Grover’s Corners, N.H., at the turn on the 20th century. The play, which is narrated by two characters known as the stage managers, follows the lives of the inhabitants of the town as they grow up, find love, get married and die, Woodland teacher and Director Sue Cinoman said.

“It’s very sweet and somewhat sad, but also extremely funny. It’s kind of surreal. It’s not what you think it’s going to be,” Cinoman said.

The drama club’s production of “Our Town” opens April 8.

“The entire play is based off the true meaning of life, especially the simple things in life people take for granted,” said junior John Dipiro, who is playing one of the stage managers. “It’s about understanding that everybody has a certain amount of minutes in their life. Minutes are so small, but in every minute there is an eternity nobody really gets.”

Senior Julie Lavernoich, who plays the other stage manager, said while the show is humorous, it isn’t full of slapstick comedy.

“It isn’t an overtly funny show. It is sort of a subtly witty show just following the daily life of these people in a small town in New Hampshire. It’s all about how people don’t realize how great life is while they are still alive,” Lavernoich said.

“It’s a very unique show,” she continued. “It doesn’t have a lot of props, so that makes it the actors’ job to make it really come to life. I feel like our actors have done a great job of making it come to life.”

Cinoman said she chose “Our Town” for the drama club because she loves it and feels its relatable.

“It is just the most truthful, but also optimistic play, about life and what life really means. How life is just little moments with people and you have to be appreciative of those little moments because you never know what the next moment will be. You just have to embrace those moments. To me that is the truth of the matter and the truth of theater, because theater is in the moment. This play expresses that,” Cinoman said.

Dipiro added since the play is about a small town in New England, it is something people in Beacon Falls and Prospect will be able to relate to.

“Being a New Englander I think this play really appeals to the New England people. It’s very cultural. It’s very meaningful and it has got a lot of value to it,” Dipiro said.

Cinoman said audience members who attend this production should be ready for an “immersive experience.”

“We have audience on the stage, we have actors coming out all over the theater. So the whole town is all over the theater and the audience is part of the town. So it is a whole experience. It is going to be really fun,” Cinoman said. “It’s not just seeing a play, it’s an experience.”

The Woodland drama club will present “Our Town” April 8 and April 9 at 7 p.m. at Woodland, 135 Back Rimmon Road, Beacon Falls. Tickets for the show are $10. Tickets are available at the door or can be reserved online at www.wrhsdrama.com.