Maggie Quarton provides this brief basic introduction of what Pier One’s current production, Our Town, is about and how it’s going so far with the first weekend already completed:
“It's going really, really well. It's an incredibly talented cast…It's a beautiful, timeless message about how we need to. We're not here on earth very long, living this life, and we need to appreciate and be present for our time here,” Quarton said.
Quarton also gave this personal introduction about her own experience in acting.
“I started acting with Pier One Theater in 2010…I had always wanted to be an actress. I'd always wanted to act, but was far too shy, and I realized I didn't want to come to the end of my life and regret that I hadn't done it, that I'd never done this thing that I wanted to do my whole life,” Quarton said.
The play is about life in a small town, Grover's Corners, New Hampshire where there are two families, Dr. Gibbs and his wife and their two children, and Mr. Webb and his wife and two children, who live next door to each other. The community and basic sociocultural dimensions of the community are outlined and described in the first two acts. In Act Two, The daughter of Mr. Webb falls in love with the son of Dr. Gibbs and they get married.
Quarton more details and a concluding synopsis of the play for Act Three:
“And then in Act Three…I'll just say there is a death, and the person is not ready to be there. It's.. it takes place in the graveyard, and several of the characters that we met in Acts one and two are in the graveyard now, and it's, it is 1913 in the third act, so the person who, who has died is not very old, and they, they feel like nobody appreciates life. Nobody appreciates how short of a time we're here, and we don't know when our time is going to be over, and we need to look each other in the eye and enjoy the little things, butterflies, birds, things like that,” she explained.
Quarton explained that one of the biggest challenges of this production was filling all of the cast roles but in the end she’s content with how it has turned out and the community the cast has been able to create and contribute to each other. She provided specific examples of two actors she didn’t initially expect.
“It was tough casting it, because not very many people showed up at auditions but somebody had mentioned to me a few years ago that he always had wanted to do theater, but was scared to, you know, or I don't know if he said he was scared, but he was too scared to audition, which is a very, very frightening thing to do the first time, and so I texted him, said I have a - I'm directing a play, and I have a part for you. Was Abe Alborn.…I had this feeling about Abe. I just had a feeling he would be good, and he said, “I gotta think about it.” I offered him the small part or the big part, he took the big part, Doc Gibbs, and he's very good. Another woman came to auditions the first night, I she didn't even fill out an application or a form, she just said I just moved to Homer, I don't know anybody, and this seemed like a good way to meet people…and she was really good, she read really well, and so I said, I think you should be in this play, she's Mrs. Webb.
The actress who plays that part is Teresa Dobbins and she provided these comments on her experience:
“I just wanted to comment that it was just amazing. I'm a total newbie, never been on stage. I was Mrs. Walton in the third grade, I think, and that's about it. And this has been the most welcoming group that have embraced my newness and mentored me through everything. And Maggie has been incredible. So I just want to give a big shout out to her, just believing in me that I could actually do such a big part,” Dobbins said.
Finally, Deb Rowzee who plays the role of Mrs. Gibbs ended with these comments:
“I have to say, about Pier One, they, as a community theater, they fully embrace the community, and people that have never done it before can be with people that have done it for like 25 to 30 years, and everybody is there for each other, so that's one of my favorite things.”
Exact time and ticket details for Our Town are available on the Pier One Theatre website: pieronetheatre.org.
Reporting from Homer, this is Emilie Springer.
