“Our Town” is first Maryville College theatre performance in the Clayton Center of the Arts

April 15, 2010
Contact: Annie Standridge, Communications Assistant
865.981.8085; annie.standridge@my.maryvillecollege.edu

Dr. Heather McMahon, Maryville College's assistant professor of theatre, chose Thornton Wilder's Pulitzer Prize-winning play “Our Town” as the first MC Theatre Department performance in the Clayton Center of the Arts because of its themes surrounding small town communities.

The play will open to the public on April 29 and run through May 2 in the Haslam Family Flexible Theatre. Performances begin at 8 p.m., April 29-May 1. On May 2, the matinee showing will start at 2 p.m.

The three-act play, which was first performed in Princeton, N.J., in 1938, explores the lives of people living in a small, quintessentially American town in the early 20th century. It follows the lives of a young couple in Grover's Corner, N.H.

“The story is timeless,” said McMahon, who is the play's director. “There is a lesson about life and how you can make the most of it by appreciating the world around you.”

Comprised of 29 members, the cast is a blending of younger and older Maryville community members, Maryville College theatre majors and other students. Sixteen are community members and the remaining are Maryville College students, three of whom are theatre majors.

McMahon said she believes the Clayton Center is a great venue to foster collaboration between students and community members.

Mitch Moore, a member of the Foothills Community Players, has the role of the Stage Manager. Maryville College freshman, Walker Harrison, and senior, Caitlin Corbett, play the parts of George and Emily, the two romantic leads.

Foothills Community Players and Primary Players, a children's community theatre group in Maryville, provided talented, local actors to participate in the production. Community members, including four children between the ages of 10 and 12, will play the parts of the couple's parents and sibling as well as other characters.

Many other community members are contributing backstage by constructing the set, sewing costumes or hanging lights alongside Maryville College students.

McMahon says she believes the Maryville community and campus community will also come together in the audience when the curtains are drawn.

“The play depicts small-town life, which looks similar to where we live,” said McMahon. “I think our community can connect to the characters. What they say about how to live your life is so important.”

Maryville College is ideally situated in Maryville, Tenn., between the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Knoxville, the state‘s third largest city. Founded in 1819, it is the 12th oldest institution of higher learning in the South and maintains an affiliation with the Presbyterian Church (USA). Known for its academic rigor and its focus on the liberal arts, Maryville is where students come to stretch their minds, stretch themselves and learn how to make a difference in the world. Total enrollment for the fall 2011 semester was 1,078.