La Sierra University presents Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town”

  College of Arts & Sciences   Arts+Culture  

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – For four nights this month, La Sierra University’s drama program will carry audiences into early 1900s American small-town life with a production of Thornton Wilder’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, “Our Town.”

La Sierra University students Otinelis Iancu, left, and Cristian Rodriguez rehearse for the drama program’s production of “Our Town.” (Photo: courtesy of La Sierra University Drama)
La Sierra University students Otinelis Iancu, left, and Cristian Rodriguez rehearse for the drama program’s production of “Our Town.” (Photo: courtesy of La Sierra University Drama)
Local actor, director, storyteller, and educator Brady Greer Huffman will direct La Sierra University's production of "Our Town."
Local actor, director, storyteller, and educator Brady Greer Huffman will direct La Sierra University's production of "Our Town."

Showtimes are 7:30 p.m. in Matheson Hall on May 10, 13, 17 and 20. Admission is $10. 

“Our Town” is a metatheatrical three-act play that tells the story of two ordinary families living in the fictional town of Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire. With minimal props and a simple stage, the play’s exploration of everyday life in America in the early 1900s emphasizes the need to appreciate the simplicity found in even the most ordinary life. It was first performed in 1938 and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for drama that same year.

The cast is comprised almost entirely of La Sierra students and faculty. Brady Greer Huffman will serve as director and play the main character of ‘stage manager’ in the production. Lead roles George Gibbs and Emily Webb will be played respectively by La Sierra students Cristian Rodriguez and Otinelis Iancu.

Huffman is an actor, director, storyteller, and educator with credits both nationally and internationally. He has received honors working as an actor in Chicago and California’s Inland Empire. In 2009, he co-founded a non-profit theatre, The SchoolHouse Company, in Sioux Center, Iowa. As a playwright, he has adapted “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” and “The Jungle Book” into full length dramas, and his original drama, “Parcel,” was staged at his alma mater, Northwestern College in Iowa. He currently works as a drama instructor at Redlands Christian School, as the technical director for the drama program at La Sierra University, and as a sponsored director for Loma Linda University’s humanities program. 

Wilder was an award-winning American novelist and playwright who is the only writer to win Pulitzer Prizes for both drama and fiction. He was born in 1897 in Madison, Wis. and was educated principally in California before attending Oberlin College for two years and receiving his bachelor’s degree from Yale University in 1920. Wilder was awarded three Pulitzer Prizes, first for his novel, “The Bridge of San Luis Rey,” in 1928, followed by “Our Town” in 1938 and another play, “The Skin of our Teeth,” in 1943. Other awards include the Gold Medal for fiction from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the National Book Committee’s Medal for Literature, and the Goethe-Plakette Award.

Tickets and information for La Sierra University’s production of “Our Town” are available by calling the Humanities Hall box office at 951-785-2241 or by email at drama@lasierra.edu. La Sierra University is located at 4500 Riverwalk Parkway, Riverside, Calif., 92505. A campus map is available at lasierra.edu/campus-map/.

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