A uniformly excellent ensemble cast makes Act 1 DeSales University Theatres "Our Town" a touching celebration of what it means to be human.
The show on the Main Stage of the Labuda Center for the Performing Arts through Feb. 27 is warm and inviting as it finds the beauty in the rhythms of everyday life in a small town at the turn of the 20th century.
Starting with an empty stage, actors attach the curtain that serves as a backdrop and set up chairs for the very minimal set.
The play starts slowly as the main character of the play - the Stage Manager - breaks the fourth wall to speak directly to the audience as he introduces the small community and the other characters. Gregory J. Wintle is affable and charismatic in the role as he casually leans against the side of the stage, lighting a pipe.
As he describes everything from the heliotropes in Mrs Gibbs garden to the towns many churches, the audience must use their imagination while actors mime feeding chickens and throwing newspapers.
The script paints a picture of idyllic American small-town life and the entire cast is completely invested in the simple stories of babies being born, children going to school, couples getting married and people ultimately dying.
The play is divided into three acts “ Daily Life, Love and Marriage, Death and Eternity - and focuses on the Gibbs and Webb families who live next door to each other.
Izzy Criscuolo as Mrs. Webb and Emily Barrett as Mrs. Gibbs are sturdy, self-sufficient women cooking, cleaning and caring for their families side by side,
Maxwell Gorman as Dr. Gibbs is kind though overworked and William Pearce is all nervous energy as Mr. Webb, the editor of the local paper.
Mackenzie Schmidt and Carter Sachse are appealing as the families children Emily Webb and George Gibbs, who fall in love.
The rest of the cast handily fills in the townspeople from the morning milkman with his faithful horse (Joseph Correale) to the chatty cop walking the beat (Owen Clark). Keiara Dunkley is gently humorous as Mrs. Soames who turns to the audience to express her love of weddings as the town gathers for George and Emilys wedding. Lovely choral harmonies add an aural element as the church choir rehearses.
As we come to know the people in this town, we get to see how their everyday lives are woven into the life of the community.
Director Steven Dennis pulls together the plays parts which features flashbacks and looks ahead, interspersed with the narration by the stage manager.
Adding to the sparest of sets is the backdrop upon which is projected moments of joy from a full moon to the stained glass window of a church.
It ends as starkly as it begins with the curtain dropping and Wintles Stage Manager exiting through a backlit door at the back of the dark stage.
Performances are 8 p.m. Feb. 18-19 and 23-26; 2 p.m. Feb. 20 and 27 and 9:45 a.m. Feb. 22.
There will be a performance with open captioning for patrons who are hard of hearing and audio descriptions for patrons who are visually impaired Feb. 19.Tickets are half price for patrons using these services. Call box office manager Kyle Schumaker at 610-282-3654, ext. 1, for information. There are talk backs with the cast after the performance Feb. 20 and 22.
Tickets are $23 for adults and $21 for students and seniors Tuesday through Thursday and $27 for adults and $25 for students and seniors Friday through Sunday.
Masks are required indoors at Labuda Center.
For information, go to tickets.desales.edu/ or call 610-282-3192.