Marathon High School Students Bring Our Town to Life
For teenagers navigating the hallway dynamics of middle and high school, life usually feels like it is just beginning, but the young actors in Marathon High School’s upcoming production of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town face the distinct theatrical challenge of fast-forwarding all the way to the end, Keys Weekly reported.
First performed in 1938, the Pulitzer Prize-winning play spans the milestones of life, love, and loss among the residents of Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire, across the early 1900s. The three-act structure opens on neighboring households—the Webbs and the Gibbses—anchored by a steady motherly friendship and the budding romance between Emily Webb, played by Ashley Rasmussen, and George Gibbs, played by Artemis Peres.
Stepping Into Decades of Lived Experience
Portraying parents, grandparents, and characters reflecting on life from beyond the grave requires a marked shift from the club’s standard musicals or lighter comedies. Danny Diaz, cast as newspaper editor Mr. Webb, keeps his strategy straightforward when tackling mature fatherhood. “I just act wiser, I guess,” Diaz said, focusing on controlled physical movements, permanent calm, and avoiding jittery gestures.
For Melissa Fernandez, who plays Mrs. Gibbs alongside Priscilla George as Mrs. Webb, grounding the historical text relies on familiar interpersonal dynamics. “The culture and language, everything about it is different,” Fernandez said. “The one thing that you could probably see the same relationship in every play or in every dynamic is like brother or sister or family relationship. It helps you humanize them in a way.”
The traditional fourth wall remains willfully absent throughout the production. The Stage Manager role is split-cast among Emily Martinez Rojas, Viviana Matos, and Brenda Arias to guide audiences through the narrative arc.
Saying Goodbye to the World on Stage
The central themes carry heavy personal weight for senior Ashley Rasmussen, a longtime participant in the theater program. In the final act, her character Emily revisits a single day from her 12th birthday, warned that watching without interacting brings deep pain, only to discover how quickly life slips by unnoticed.
As Rasmussen prepares to graduate after years of consuming her evenings with drama club commitments, the final monologue mirrors her own transition. “My last monologue is kind of saying goodbye to the world,” Rasmussen said. “I realized that we aren’t actually living life. We’re not taking it moment by moment.”
“This is on a deeper level for Ashley,” Matos said. “She’s acting it out, and actively going through it.”
Staging Grover’s Corners Without Traditional Scenery
Wilder’s script eschews elaborate physical scenery, asking actors to mime everyday activities without props against a minimalist backdrop. To solve the design challenge, Rasmussen—who also serves as the production’s set designer—plans to extend the fictional town beyond the stage into the auditorium lobby, immersing patrons in Grover’s Corners without constructing a literal reality.
The production runs at the MHS Performing Arts Center on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 6 and 7 at 7 p.m., with a 2 p.m. matinee on Sunday, Nov. 8. Tickets cost $10 for adults and $5 for students. Culinary arts students will host a pre-show pasta dinner from 4 to 7 p.m., priced at $20 for standalone plates or $15 for ticket holders.