Theater Weekend

Our Town by Thornton Wilder
Although this play has been produced more times than perhaps any other 20th century play, I had never seen it before. I had previously read the book a couple of times and always enjoyed it. I liked the stage production very much.
I love the use of the bare stage, minimal props, and the direct address to the audience. I'm not nearly as familiar with theatre as I am with some of the arts so I really loved the explanation in the play notes.

"Wilder exploded the accepted notions of character and story and catapulted the American drama into the 20th century. He did for the stage what Picasso's and Braque's experiments did in cubism did for painting and Joyce's stream of consciousness did for the novel. To mistake him for a traditionalist is to do Thornton Wilder an injustice. He was in fact, a modernist who translated European and Asian ideas about theatre into the American idiom."

I found the archetypal characters and the direct address of the stage manager really poignant. I loved the celebration of the best moments of life. Sometimes the actions and familiar details that really define us get lost in the day to day shuffle of our lives. Simple moments, stringing together the bigger events of our life, get overlooked. I feel the seeming acceleration of time very keenly right now as my girls transform before my eyes. I liked having the reminder to celebrate the small moments before they are gone.

Alice In Wonderland

I went to see this in the theater (a rare treat) with my sister in law A. I LOVE Tim Burton and Johnny Depp so I was really excited. I loved the costumes, Johnny Depp being a weirdo, the set, and pretty much everything else.