Rosebud’s “Our Town” is about our town, too

Times Contributor   

 

Rosebud Theatre’s Our Town is all about the things that happen in our town and in every town, every day and every year. Eating breakfast, going to work, sending children to school, doing laundry, growing a garden. Gossiping with friends, falling in love, wishing we could help those who hurt, saying good-bye. Optimism and young love. Weariness, loss and sorrow.

Watching these everyday happenings might be ho-hum under less capable direction – and, indeed, I’ve seen it that way — but under the direction of Morris Ertman, Our Town is profound.

Ertman’s cast of 20 includes Stage Manager Judith Buchan, who warmly narrates times and seasons. Other stand-out performances include veteran actor Paul Muir as a just-right Editor Webb. He’s especially priceless as the beleaguered father-in-law trying to give marital advice to his son-in-law — confused but earnest George Gibbs (Byron Allen) — on the morning of his wedding. There’s also 12-year-old Donovan Snider, whose portrayal of Wally Webb makes me wonder where young Snider’s talent will take him in the next 10 or 20 years.

The performance that stands out most, however, is Heather Pattengale as Emily Webb. I’d seen Pattengale’s startling versatility in My Name is Asher Lev in the summer of 2012, but I’m impressed all over again with her work in Our Town, where she transforms into a 17-year-old high school student, then starry-eyed young bride, 26-year-old wife and mother and 12-year-old birthday girl. I marvel and am grateful that we can see an actor of Pattengale’s calibre on stage in tiny Rosebud.

Long ago, in a far away place, I saw another company’s production of Our Town. I remember my only response was surprise – surprise that I was neither moved nor inspired by their staging of this famous story.

Rosebud’s Our Town, by contrast, leaves a deep impact. It made us often shake with laughter, and it moved me (and at least a few others) to tears. Most of all, it pressed on me a longing to reach out for those I love most, and to hold them all very, very close.

Our Town tickets come with a buffet dinner, which my companion and I thought was even more flavourful than Rosebud’s usual fare. After dinner, we spent a few minutes in the Akokiniskway Art Gallery — and were glad we did. The current exhibit, “United Through Stitch,” is a fascinating display of fabric art by Pam Dangerfield and Vickie Newington, who work with fibre, fabric, glass and beads to create fascinatingly-realistic images. I’m not always an appreciator of visual art, but this is one collection I’d like to view again. 

Our Town opened Sept.13 and runs til Oct. 19 on Rosebud’s Opera House stage. See www.rosebudtheatre.com or call 1-800-267-7553 for tickets.