<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=2TIGsw_1H1YHwoU00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=2TIGsw_1H1YHwoU00" width="1750" height="1250" ><figcaption>Roman Briscoe plays George Gibbs and Aubrie Kelly plays Emily Webb in Hazel Park Drama’s rendition of “Our Town.” Photo by Liz Carnegie</figcaption></figure>HAZEL PARK — The curtain will soon rise on the next production by the students of the Hazel Park Drama program, adapting Thornton Wilder’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play “Our Town.” Showtimes are 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Nov. 20-21, and 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 22, in the auditorium at Hazel Park Junior High School, 22770 Highland Ave. Tickets are available now at hazelparkdrama.org. The play is set in Grover’s Corners, a fictional small town in New Hampshire at the turn of the 20th century. It focuses on two families — the Gibbs and the Webbs — following their children from 1901 to 1913. Mark Fairbrother, Hazel Park Drama’s director, said the story has its share of love and loss, serving as a meditation on the human condition. As such, while characters reference the fictional town and era, the minimalist set design will feature elements familiar to residents of Hazel Park, from historical photos to the school’s colors. Fairbrother said it’s meant to make the experience feel timeless. “Textually, we are in turn-of-the-century New Hampshire. Texturally, we’re in Hazel Park. We want our audience to notice those elements that speak to our local history and local reality because this is an exploration of the universal human condition and what unites us as a people. And that’s growing up, learning, falling in love, living — and ultimately dying,” Fairbrother said. About 40 students are involved in the production. Except for several sixth-graders playing younger characters in the play, the students are all Hazel Park High students, grades 9-12. The format is a traditional play, with a narrator character called the Stage Manager serving as the audience’s guide for the ever-changing lives of the characters during their 12-year journey. That role is played by senior Quinn Beverlin. “My character is omnipotent and all-knowing, and I’m onstage the whole time. There are times I narrate under a spotlight, and at some points I even interact with the actors on the stage, talking to them in a fake interview,” Beverlin said. “Thornton Wilder is known for breaking the fourth wall like that. It brings in the audience and acknowledges the imagination of it all.” <figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=1xGzVh_1H1YHwoU00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=1xGzVh_1H1YHwoU00" width="1750" height="1250" ><figcaption>From left, Ryelee Dockery plays Young Emily, Mal Staten plays Mrs. Webb, and Aubrie Kelly plays Emily Webb in “Our Town.” Photo by Liz Carnegie</figcaption></figure>Unlike a traditional play, however, this one is split into three acts rather than two, with an intermission between each. Fairbrother noted that “visually, the design is minimalist, but the play is maximalist in other ways,” with a strong emphasis on sound design — from the passing of a train to the clink of plates being set upon the table at breakfast. Jennia Topolnitska, a senior, is the play’s sound designer. She said the use of sound is meant to evoke core memories. “We rely heavily on sound, tying mood into the performances and highlighting those everyday moments,” Topolnitska said. “In life, we’re always hearing something. We may not notice our mother’s cooking, for example, until we don’t hear it anymore.” While there are no props, the students have been training under a pantomime expert who worked under Marcel Marceau, the famous French pantomime artist. Some have attributed Michael Jackson’s iconic moonwalk to Marceau’s pantomime of walking against the wind. Fairbrother said the students have been studying those aspects extensively, but the learning process goes deeper still. “In every production I lead, we look at the ecosystem around the text and its impact,” Fairbrother said. “We study things like who the author was, how his upbringing and politics and life experiences influenced his writing, what else he wrote, the similarities and differences between those works, how they were received, how those works live within the popular consciousness and are reproduced in other media. Those are all elements we’ve studied for this show.” There will also be a special exhibit open an hour before showtime on each date, one that is free and open to the public regardless of whether they see the show. The exhibit is part museum, with historical photos from Hazel Park’s past, and part art gallery, with pieces by students from each of the Hazel Park school district’s elementary schools, interpreting themes such as “community” and landmarks around town. “For this exhibit, I wanted to show both modern and past Hazel Park,” said Topolnitska, who is managing the exhibit in addition to serving as the play’s sound designer. “We reached out to alumni from Hazel Park, all the way back to the 1980s, getting images from them to display, and we worked with the city’s Historical Commission for pictures of old buildings that have changed over time. And the students, their art ties into the more modern aspect, showing the town as it is now. Just like the play, it’s about community.” Topolnitska said being part of Hazel Park Drama has been a transformative experience. “And I have to say, working on the exhibit and learning more about the city I was raised in and the people around me has made me more empathetic to others,” Topolnitska said. Added Beverlin: “I feel like I’ve changed so much since being in the program. It’s just an eye-opening experience, collaborating with all these people. Theater, itself, is community to me — we’re producing it together, watching it together. It’s so beautiful.” “Our Town” is recommended for ages 13 years and older. For more information, and to purchase tickets, visit hazelparkdrama.org. </div></body>

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HAZEL PARK — The curtain will soon rise on the next production by the students of the Hazel Park Drama program, adapting Thornton Wilder’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play “Our Town.”. Showtimes are 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Nov. 20-21, and 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 22, in the auditorium...

Hazel Park Drama sets stage for next play

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HAZEL PARK — The curtain will soon rise on the next production by the students of the Hazel Park Drama program, adapting Thornton Wilder’s Pulitzer Prize-w

Hazel Park Drama sets stage for next play

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