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ROYAL OAK — The Royal Oak High School Drama Club will be showcasing its talents in the show “Our Town,” a play by Thornton Wilder.
The heartfelt and thought-provoking production follows two families and their journey through childhood, adulthood, and the realities of life and death.
Audiences can see the show at 6:30 p.m. April 25 and 26 or 2 p.m. April 27 in the Royal Oak High School auditorium, 1500 Lexington Blvd.
Tickets are available at rohsdrama.com. Tickets cost $12 for adults and $8 for students and children.
Zoe Hubbard-Reinstein, a senior at ROHS, will be playing the part of the narrator.
“I love the part; it’s very different from the townspeople. It’s really cool as an alternative role,” Hubbard-Reinstein said. “I guide the audience through what’s going on, through different time changes and things like that.”
The show is broken up into three acts. The first act is called “The Daily Life,” the second is called “Love and Marriage,” and the third and final act is called “Death and Eternity.”
“I really like the family dynamics and how all of the characters interact. It’s really interesting to see all of these different types of people being represented,” she said.
Abbey Lilly-Lacca, drama director at ROHS, said that “Our Town” is a timeless classic that is a great way to showcase the talent and drive of the drama students.
“It was written to be a time capsule of early American life, and it really endured as a classic play. I really love the timelessness of it, and the fact that over 100 years later, students connect those stages of life that the characters are going through,” Lilly-Lacca said. “The students are able to connect with what people went through at the turn of the century, and we have really discussed the similarities and differences we experience today.”
The students played a big part in the choosing of the show, Lilly-Lacca said, as they wanted to do an emotional piece.
“When I discussed with our drama club officers and the drama club at large what they were interested in doing for our spring play, a lot of them expressed they wanted to do a serious drama,” Lilly-Lacca said. “They felt that throughout high school they had done a lot of comedy and they had done a lot of flashy shows. They wanted to do something that was more stripped down and serious, and that’s also what ‘Our Town’ is known for.”
The show specifically does not use many props and has minimal costumes and minimal sets. It’s an opportunity for the students to dive into a different genre of performance and show that they are capable of acting without much technical support.
“It’s been really challenging for them to scale back and to not have as many set and prop pieces that they are used to having,” Lilly-Lacca said. “I was really impressed that they recognized they wanted to have that different experience, and I was happy to choose ‘Our Town’ because I have read it or seen it in different stages of my life, and I do think it’s just a beautiful play about life.”
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