For Immediate Release: September 15, 2005
Media Contact: Sue Winge, Villanova Theatre, 610.519.7454

Villanova Theatre opens the 2005-2006 season with Thornton Wilder's Pulitzer Prize-winning drama Our Town, directed by Villanova theatre professor James J. Christy, a two-time Barrymore Award-winner for Outstanding Direction of a Play.

Our Town runs September 27-October 9, 2005, at Vasey Hall on the Villanova University campus. Showtimes are 8:00pm Tuesday-Saturday and 2:00pm Sunday. Tickets are $18-$22, with discounts for seniors, students, and groups, and may be ordered by calling the Villanova Theatre Box Office at (610) 519-7474. Additional information is available online at www.theatre.villanova.edu.

Our Town explores the poignancy of everyday life in a quiet New England village in the early years of the 20th century. The play focuses on the relationship between next-door neighbors George Gibbs and Emily Webb, following their lives as they grow up, fall in love with each other, and get married. Guided by an omniscient stage manager, the audience - along with George, Emily, and the other characters - comes to understand and appreciate the universal and eternal wonder of life.

Christy, who will retire from the Villanova theatre department at the end of this year, first directed Our Town in 1964 at the age of 23.

"The play has always had a special appeal to me both as an idealization of community life and romantic love and as a soulful meditation on the meaning of life and death," he said. "It has been moving to encounter the play again as an older person who has lived through many of the experiences the play presents."

Christy sees Our Town as an important part of theatrical tradition, especially for young audiences.

"When I teach American drama, I begin with this play," said Christy. "Kids immersed in today's 'pop culture' world can find the modern-day relevance of Our Town. There is something about the not-so-distant past portrayed in the play that is incredibly valuable to them."

Our Town was written by Wilder to be performed on a bare stage with minimal furnishings, emphasizing the play's "spare, restrained, inward qualities," said Christy. "At times the sentimental story overwhelms the ideas of the play; it is my goal to find the right balance between feelings and ideas.

"It is a celebration of the magical power of theatre," Christy continued. "Wilder deliberately chose to eliminate setting and props to emphasize the interior reality of all human experience. The idea that a play with a good story, good characters, and good language can hold the stage simply through acting has always been powerful for me."

Thornton Wilder (1897-1975) began work on Our Town in 1936. After brief runs in Boston, MA, and Princeton, NJ, it opened in New York in 1938. It won the Pulitzer Prize for drama that year, and was adapted into a 1940 film. Notable revivals of Our Town were in 1959 at Circle in the Square, in 1988 (with Spaulding Gray as the stage manager), and in 2001 (with Paul Newman as the stage manager). A popular novelist (The Bridge of San Luis Rey) and playwright, Wilder won a second Pulitzer Prize in 1943 for his play The Skin of Our Teeth.

Christy, a professor of theatre at Villanova for 38 years, last season directed Twelfth Night at Villanova and Take Me Out at Philadelphia Theatre Company; Take Me Out has been nominated for six 2005 Barrymore Awards, including Christy's seventh nomination for Outstanding Direction of a Play. In 2004, he directed a new play, Never Tell, written by his son, Jimmy, for the New York International Fringe Festival and, in 2003, he directed fellow faculty member Michael Hollinger's Red Herring at Actor's Theatre of Louisville and The Merchant of Venice at The People's Light & Theatre Company. Other recent credits include Don Juan, The Trojan Women, and The Passion of Christ at Villanova, Proof at Arden Theatre Company, and The Laramie Project at Philadelphia Theatre Company, which received 2001 Barrymore Awards for Overall Production of a Play, Direction of a Play, and Outstanding Ensemble.

In recognition of his long career as a theatre artist and educator, Christy will receive a "Lifetime Achievement Award" at the Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia's Barrymore Awards ceremony on October 10, 2005.

The ensemble of Our Town features a mix of Villanova graduate theatre students and guest artists, including Paul Guerin (Stage Manager/Joe Stoddard), Nick Falco (George Gibbs), Jonathon Reardon (Dr. Gibbs), Taylor Williams (Mrs. Gibbs), Marcie Thurstilic (Rebecca Gibbs), Corinne May (Emily Webb), Jarad Mitchell Benn (Mr. Webb), Carolyn Noone (Mrs. Webb), Aaron D. Stall (Wally Webb), Bob Cronin (Professor Willard), Matt Rohner (Simon Stimson), Leigh Ann Brienza (Mrs. Soames), Jared Nelson (Constable Warren), Jason Cianciulli (Joe Crowell), Dominic Hughes (Si Crowell), Chris Braak (Howie Newsome/Baseball Player), Baird Kistner (Sam Craig/Baseball Player), Justin Damm (Baseball Player), Kristi A. Good (Concerned Woman), Adam Landon (Belligerent Man), Tonilyn Longo (Artistic Lady), and Jessica Ciaramella, Jessica DalCanton, Christin Jezak, Barbara Quinn, and Lauren Chesley Turner (Townspeople). The production team includes costume designer Janus Stefanowicz, lighting designer Jerold R. Forsyth, properties designer cdavid hall-cottrill, and dramaturg TJ Bodnar.

Our Town runs September 27-October 9, 2005, at Vasey Hall on the Villanova University campus. Showtimes are 8:00pm Tuesday-Saturday and 2:00pm Sunday. Tickets are $18-$22 and may be ordered by calling the Villanova Theatre Box Office at (610) 519-7474. Additional information is available online at www.theatre.villanova.edu.

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