1、OUR TOWN*(1938)Thornton Wilder (1897-1975)Thornton Niven Wilder was born in Madison, Wisconsin on April 17, 1897. He spent much of his childhood in China, where his father served as U.S. consul general to Hong Kong and Shanghai. He attended the China Inland Mission School, Chefoo (Yantai), Shandong

2、before returning to the U.S. to complete his high-school education in California. From 1915-17, he attended Oberlin College in Ohio, which was known for its China connection. He served in the Coast Artillery Corps in the First World War. After the war he completed his college studies at Yale and the

3、n spent a graduate year studying archeology at the American Academy in Rome. After his got his MA in French at Princeton, he taught at the Lawrenceville School and later at the University of Chicago. In the Second World War he served with the Air Forces Intelligence in North Africa and Italy from 19

4、42 to 1945.As the only author to receive Pulitzer Prizes for both drama and fiction, Wilder is best known for his award-winning works: the novel The Bridge of San Luis Rey (1927) and two plays, Our Town (1938) and The Skin of Our Teeth (1942). In the early part of his career, Wilder was more success

5、ful with his novels than with his plays. Besides The Bridge of San Luis Rey, other works of fiction that brought him fame include The Woman of Andros (1930), Heavens My Destination (1935), and The Ides of March (1948). The plays collected in The Long Christmas Dinner and Other Plays (1931), however,

6、 reflect Wilders broad knowledge of European culture, and two of his plays, Pullman Car Hiawatha and The Happy Journey to Trenton and Camden, demonstrate some of the staging techniques and thematic concerns for which Wilder would later become famous. In 1938 Wilder made his special impression on the

7、 theatre with Our Town, which established him as a major American dramatist.His reputation as a playwright also rests on two comedies, The Skin of Our Teeth and The Matchmaker (1957). The latter is a revised version of his play The Merchant of Yonkers: A Farce in Four Acts (1938).Wilder was Charles

8、Eliot Norton Professor of Poetry at Harvard in 1951-52, although he did not publish much during the 1940s and the 1950s. His one before the last novel, The Eighth Day (1967), was a major success of the latter part of his career and won him a National Book Award.From A treasury of the Theatre, vol. 2

9、, 4th edition, Simon & Schuster, Inc., 1970.1Thorntons father, Amos Parker Wilder (1863-1936) was born in Maine and he attended Yale, where he earned a B.A. in 1884 and a Ph.D. in 1892. After short stints of teaching in Connecticut and Minnesota, Wilder became a journalist, working in many places su

10、ch as New York, Albany, Philadelphia, and New Haven. In 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt appointed him consul general in Hong Kong. He remained in the consular service (moving to Shanghai in 1909) until poor health forced him to resign in 1914. He then returned to New Haven where he directed the Y

11、ale-in-China Association and returned to journalism. Throughout his life Wilder was a nationally renowned public speaker.ACT 1No curtain. No scenery. The audience, arriving, sees an empty stage in half-light. Presently the Stage Manage; hat on and pipe in mouth, enters and begins placing a table and

12、 several chairs down stage left, and a table and chairs down stage right. Left and right are from the point of view of the actor facing the audience. Up is towards the back wall. As the house lights go down he has finished setting the stage and leaning against the right proscenium pillar watches the

13、 late arrivals in the audience. When the auditorium is in complete darkness he speaks:Stage Manager: This play is called Our Town. It was written by Thornton Wilder, produced and directed by A.; or: produced by A. .; directed by B. In it you will see Miss C.; Miss D.; Miss E.; and Mr. F.;Mr. G. and

14、many others. The name of the town is Grovers Coners, New Hampshire, just across the Massachusetts line: latitude 42 degrees 40 minutes; longitude 70 degrees 37 minutes. The First Act shows a day in our town. The day is May 7, 1901. The time is just before dawn. A rooster crows The sky is beginning t

15、o show some streaks of light over in the East there, behind our mountin. The morning star always gets wonderful bright the minute before it has to go. He stares at it for a moment, then goes up stage Well, Id better show you how our town lies. Up hereI That is: parallel with the back wall is Main St

16、reet. Way back there is the railway station; tracks go that way. Polish Towns across the tracks and some Canuck families. Toward the left Over there is the Congregational3 Church; across the streets the Presbyterian . Methodist andUnitarian are over there. Baptist is down in the holla by the river.

17、Catholic Church is over beyond the tracks. Heres the Town Hall and Post Office combined; jails in the basement. Bryan once made a speech from these steps here. Along heres a row of stores. Hitching-posts and horse blocks in front of them. First automobiles going to come along in about five years, be

18、longed to Banker Cartwright, our richest citizen . lives in the big white house up on the hill. Heres the grocery store and heres Mr. Morgans drugstore. Most everybody in town manages to look into those two stores once a day. Public Schools over yonder. High Schools still farther over. Quarter of ni

19、ne mornings, noontimes, and three oclock afternoons, the hull town can hear the yelling and screaming from those schoolyards. He approaches the table and chairs down stage right This is our doctors house, Doc Gibbs. This is the back door. Two arched trellises are pushed out, one by each proscenium p

20、illar Theres some scenery for those who think they have to have scenery. Theres a garden here. Corn . . .81peas . . . beans . . . hollyhocksheliotropeand a lot of burdock. Crosses the stage In those days our1 proscenium: the small area of the stage in front of the curtain, where action takes place w

21、hen the curtain is closed.2 Canuck: French-Canadian.3 Congregational: of a union of Christian churches in which individual congregations are responsible for their own affairs.fi(J o4 Presbyterian: (of a church, esp. of the national Church of Scotland) governed by elders who are all equal in rank, or

22、 person who is a member of the Presbyterian church. 05 Methodist: (member) of the Protestant religious denomination that originated in the teachings of John Wesley.fi(J;6 Bryan: William Jennings Bryan (1860-1925), a famous American lawyer, statesman, and orator, and three-time Democratic Presidentia

23、l candidate, in 1896, 1900 and 1908.7 trellis: light framework of crossing strips of wood, plastic, etc used esp. to support climbing plants and often fastened to a wall.2newspaper come out twice a week, the Grovers Corners Sentinel and this is Editor Webbs house. And this is Mrs. Webbs garden. Just

24、 like Mrs. Gibbss, only its got a lot of sun-flowers, too. Right here, big butternut tree. He returns to his place by the right proscenium pillar and looks at the audience for a minute Nice town, yknow what I mean? Nobody very remarkable ever come out of it, s far as we know. The earliest tombstones

25、 in the cemetery up there on the mountain say 1670-1680 theyre Grovers and Cartwrights and Gibbses and Herseys same names as are around here now. Well, as I said: its about dawn. The only lights on in town are in a cottage over by the tracks where a Polish mothers just had twins. And in the Joe Crow

26、ell house, where Joe Juniors getting up so as to deliver the paper. And in the depot, where Shorty Hawkins is getting ready to flag the 5:45 for Boston. A train whistle is heard. The Stage Manager takes out his watch and nods Naturally, out in the country all aroundtheyve been lights on for some tim

27、e, what with milkins and so on. But town people sleep late. Soanother days begun. Theres Doc Gibbs comin down Main Street now, comin back from that baby case. And heres his wife comin downstairs to get breakfast. Doc Gibbs died in 1930. The new hospitals named after him. Mrs. Gibbs died firstlong ti

28、me ago in fact. She went out to visit her daughter, Rebecca, who married an insurance man in Canton, Ohio, and died therepneumoniabut her body was brought back here. Shes up in the cemetery there nowin with a whole mess of Gibbses and Herseys she was Julia Hersey fore she married Doc Gibbs in the Co

29、ngregational Church over there. In our town we like to know the facts about everybody. Thats Doc Gibbs. And there comes Joe Crowell, Jr., delivering Mr. Webbs Sentinel.Dr. Gibbs has been coming along Main Street from the left. At the point where he would turn 10 approach his house, he stops, sets do

30、wn hisimaginaryblack bag, takes off his hat, and rubs his face with fatigue, using an enormous handkerchief Mrs. Gibbs has entered her kitchen, gone through the motions of putting wood into a stove, lighting it, and preparing breakfast. Suddenly, Joe Crowell, Jr., starts down Main Street from the ri

31、ght, hurling imaginary newspapers into doorwaysJoe Crowell, Jr.: Morning, Doc Gibbs.Dr. Gibbs: Morning, Joe.Joe Crowell, Jr.: Somebody been sick, Doc?Dr. Gibbs: No. Just some twins born over in Polish Town.Joe Crowell, Jr.: Do you want your paper now?Dr. Gibbs: Yes, Ill take it. Anything serious goi

32、n on in the world since Wednesday?Joe Crowell, Jr.: Yessir. My schoolteacher, Miss Foster, s getting married to a fella over in Concord.Dr. Gibbs: I declare. How do you boys feel about that?Joe Crowell, Jr.: Well, of course, its none of my business, but I think if a person starts out to be a teacher

33、, she ought to stay one.Dr. Gibbs: Hows your knee, Joe?Joe Crowell, Jr.: Fine, Doc, I never think about it at all. Only like you said, it always tells me when its going to rain.Dr. Gibbs: Whats it telling you today? Goin to rain?Joe Crowell, Jr.: No, sir.Dr. Gibbs: Sure?Joe Crowell, Jr.: Yessir.Dr.

34、Gibbs: Knee ever make a mistake?Joe Crowell, Jr.: No, sir. Joe goes off Dr. Gibbs stands reading his paper Stage Manager: Here comes Howie Newsome delivering the milk.Howie Newsome comes along Main Street, passes Doctor Gibbs, comes down the center of the stage, leaves some bottles at Mrs. Webbs bac

35、k door, and crosses the stage to Mrs. GibbssHowie Newsome: Git-ap, Bessie. Whats the matter with you? Morning, Doc.Dr. Gibbs: Morning, Howie.Howie Newsome: Somebody sick?Dr. Gibbs: Pair of twins over to Mrs. Goruslawskis.Howie Newsome: Twins, eh? This towns gettin bigger every year.Dr. Gibbs: Going

36、to rain, Howie?Howie Newsome: No, no. Fine daythatll burn through. Come on, Bessie.Dr. Gibbs: Hello Bessie. He strokes her How old is she, Howie?Howie Newsome: Goin on seventeen. Bessies all mixed up about the route ever since the Lockharts stopped takin their quart of milk every day. She wants to l

37、eave em a quart just the samekeeps scolding me the hull trip. He reaches Mrs. Gibbs s back door. She is waiting for him Mrs. Gibbs: Good morning, Howie.Howie Newsome: Morning, Mrs. Gibbs. Docs just comin down the street.Mrs. Gibbs: Is he? Seems like youre late today?Howie Newsome: Yes. Somepn went w

38、rong with the separator . Dont know what twas. He goes back to Main Street, clucks for Bessie and goes off right. Dr. Gibbs reaches his home and goes inMrs. Gibbs: Everything all right?Dr. Gibbs: Yes. I declareeasy as kittens.Mrs. Gibbs: Bacon Il be ready in a minute. Set down and drink your coffee.

39、 Child-run! Child-run! Time to get up.George! Rebecca!You can catch a couple hours sleep this morning, cant you?Dr. Gibbs: Hm! . . . Mrs. Wentworths coming at eleven. Guess I know what its about, too. Her stummick aint what it ought to be.Mrs. Gibbs: All told, you wont get moren three hours sleep. F

40、rank Gibbs, I dont know whats goin to become of you. I do wish I could get you to go away some place and take a rest. I think it would do you good.Mrs. Webb: Emileeee! Time to get up! Wally! Seven oclock!Mrs. Gibbs: I declare, you got to speak to George. Seems like somethings come over him lately. H

41、es no help to me at all. I cant even get him to cut me some wood.1 separator: a machine that separates cream from milk.Dr. Gibbs: Is he sassy to you?Mrs. Gibbs: No. He just whines! All he thinks about is that baseballGeorge! Rebecca! Youll be late for school.Dr. Gibbs: M-m-m. . . .Mrs. Gibbs: George

42、!Dr. Gibbs: George, look sharp!Georges Voice: Yes, Pa!Dr. Gibbs: As he goes off the stage Dont you hear your mother calling you?Mrs. Webb: Walleee! Emileee! Youll be late for school! Walleee! You wash yourself good or Ill come up and do it myself.Rebecca Gibbs Voice: Ma! What dress shall I wear?Mrs.

43、 Gibbs: Dont make a noise. Your fathers been out all night and needs his sleep. I washed and ironed the blue gingham for you special.Rebecca: Ma, I hate that dress.Mrs. Gibbs: Oh, hush-up-with-you.Rebecca: Every day I go to school dressed like a sick turkey.Mrs. Gibbs: Now, Rebecca, dont be impossib

44、le. You always look very nice.Rebecca: Mama, Georges throwing soap at me.Mrs. Gibbs: Ill come up and slap the both of you,thats what Ill do.A factory whistle sounds. The children enter and take their places at the breakfast tables: Emily and WallyWebb; George and Rebecca GibbsStage Manager: Weve got

45、 a factory in our town too,hear it? Makes blankets. Cartwrights own it and it brung em a fortune.Mrs. Webb: Children! Now I wont have it. Breakfast is just as good as any other meal and I wont have you gobbling like wolves. Itll stunt your growth, thats a fact. Put away your book, Wally.Wally: Aw, M

46、a!Mrs. Webb: You know the rules well as I do no books at table. As for me, Id rather have my children healthy than bright.Emily: Im both, Mama: you know I am. Im the brightest girl in school for my age. I have a wonderfulmemory.Mrs. Webb: Eat your breakfast.Wally: Im bright, too, when Im looking at

47、my stamp collection.Mrs. Gibbs: Ill speak to your father about it when hes rested. Seems to me twenty-five cents a weeks enough for a boy your age. I declare I dont know how you spend it all. George: Aw, Ma,l gotta lotta things to buy.1Mrs. Gibbs: Strawberry phosphates thats what you spend it on.Geo

48、rge: I dont see how Rebecca comes to have so much money. She has moren a dollar.1 phosphate: a soft drink made with soda and syrup.Rebecca: Spoon in mouth, dreamily Ive been saving it up gradual.Mrs. Gibbs: Well, dear, I think its a good thing every now and then to spend some.Rebecca: Mama, do you k

49、now what I love most in the worlddo you?Money. Mrs. Gibbs: Eat your breakfast.The school bell is heardThe Children: Mama, theres the first bell.l gotta hurry.l dont want any more.Mrs. Webb: Walk fast, but you dont have to run. Wally, pull up your pants at the knee. Stand up straight, Emily.Mrs. Gibb

50、s: Tell Miss Foster I send her my Best congratulationscan you remember that?Rebecca: Yes, Ma.Mrs. Gibbs: You look real nice, Rebecca. Pick up your feet.All: Good-by. The children from the two houses join at the center of the stage and go up to Main Street, then off left. Mrs. Gibbs fills her apron w

51、ith foodfor the chickens and comes down to the footlightsMrs. Gibbs: Here, chick, chick, chick. No, go away, you. Go away. Here, chick, chick, chick. Whats the matter with you? Fight, fight, fight, thats all you do. Hm . . . you dont belong to me. Whered you come from? She shakes her apron Oh, dont

52、be so scared. Nobodys going to hurt you.Mrs. Webb is sitting by her trellis, stringing beansMrs. Gibbs: Good morning, Myrtle. Hows your cold?Mrs. Webb: Well, its better; but I told Charles I didnt know as Id go to choir practice tonight. Wouldnt be any use.Mrs. Gibbs: Just the same, you come to choi

53、r practice, Myrtle, and try it.Mrs. Webb: Well, if I dont feel any worse than I do now I probably will. While Im resting myself I thought Id string some of these beans.Mrs. Gibbs: Rolling up her sleeves as she crosses the stage for a chat Let me help you. Beans have been good this year.Mrs. Webb: Iv

54、e decided to put up forty quarts if it kills me. The children say they hate em but I notice theyre able to get em down all winter. PauseMrs. Gibbs: Now, Myrtle, Ive got to tell you something, because if I dont tell somebody Ill burst.Mrs. Webb: Why, Julia Gibbs! .Mrs. Gibbs: Here, give me some more

55、of those beans. Myrtle, did one of those second-hand furniture men from Boston come to see you last Friday?Mrs. Webb: Noo.Mrs. Gibbs: Well, he called on me. First I thought he was a patient wantin to see Dr. Gibbs. N he wormed his way into my parlor, and, Myrtle Webb, he offered me three hundred and

56、 fifty dollars for Grandmother Wentworths highboy, as Im sitting here! Mrs. Webb: Why, Julia Gibbs!Mrs. Gibbs: He did! That old thing! Why, it was so big I didnt know where to put it and I almost give it to Cousin Hester Wilcox.Mrs. Webb: Well, youre going to take it, arent you?Mrs. Gibbs: I dont kn

57、ow.Mrs. Webb: You dont knowthree hundred and fifty dollars. Whats come over you?Mrs. Gibbs: Well, if I could get the Doctor to take the money and go away some place on a real trip Id sell it like that.Myrtle, ever since I was that high Ive had the thought that Id like to see Paris, France. I suppose

58、 Im crazy.Mrs. Webb: Oh, I know what you mean. How does the Doctor feel about it?Mrs. Gibbs: Well, I did beat about the bush a little and said that if I got a legacy thats the way I put itId make him take me somewhere.Mrs. Webb: M-m-m. . . . What did he say?Mrs. Gibbs: You know how he is. I havent heard a serious word out of him, ever since Ive kn