The Dos Pueblos Theater Company’s adapted play “Our Town,” directed by Emily Libera, follows the fictional town Grover’s Corners. The town’s residents, specifically Emily Weeb, George Gibbs, and their families, are highlighted within three acts: Daily Life, Love and Marriage, and the final act Death and Eternity.

“Our Town” is set to open on Nov. 14 through Nov. 16, and tickets are available for purchase here.

According to Libera, the play emphasizes “beauty and fragility” within daily life, and the idea that life’s simple moments are often overlooked “until it’s too late.”

“Our Town’s” costumes and sets were produced by Dos Pueblos High School’s Costume Crew and Carpentry Crew.

Malachi Cottrell (10) has the role of Stage Manager, where his main role is narrating “important” monologues that are directed towards the audience. He also fills in for smaller roles within the play.
Cottrell said that connecting with his lines on a “personal level” allowed him to feel more confident within his role. He added that finding balance between academics and preparing for the play has been an ongoing challenge.

Cottrell said he had a “lovely” time rehearsing for the play and said that students “have to come see the fall play.”

Nicola Bailey (11) is playing Emily Webb, one of the leads in “Our Town.” Emily Webb is the daughter of Mrs. Webb, and, as the play progresses, she plays each age of Emily Webb in the different timelines of the play.

Bailey said taking steps into her character’s perspective has helped her prepare for the role.

“This role requires a lot of vulnerability, and I’m tying things from my own life and figuring out how my own life connects to hers in some ways,” Bailey said. “I’m also just working with trial and error and experimenting and discovering with the character.”

When she is not preparing for her role, Bailey enjoys photography and writing, as she “loves arts and humanities in general.”

Bailey described that the play can be significant to everyone and “Our Town” can be relevant to viewers’ lives.

“I hope that the audience takes away a sense of the need to live life more,” Bailey said. “ I hope the audience realizes that life is so worth fully living every single moment, and that they really should just embrace the moments while they have them, because you won’t have them forever.”

Andrew Cooper (10) plays the role of George Gibbs, another lead in the show. Cooper said that George Gibbs is “the typical boy next door” and “baseball star”. As the play progresses, the character evolves from a teenager to a devoted husband, father, and farmer.

In preparation for the play, Cooper said he hand wrote his lines in his own style to help with memorization.

Cooper started acting when he was nine years old, but acting became a passion of his in seventh grade. He said that this passion has only grown at DPHS. Cooper has also acted in DPHS’s “Anything Goes” and other productions outside of DPHS, such as “Little Shop of Horrors.”

Outside of theater, Cooper said he unwinds with a variety of activities to pass time, including playing video games, board games, and singing.

Cooper hopes that after watching “Our Town,” the audience will reflect on the value of noticing the smaller details of life and find gratitude for what they have.

“It’s a show that encourages you to pay attention, not just like when you’re watching it so you catch all the details, but throughout your life,” Cooper said. “Just taking time to notice and be with all of the beautiful parts of life and not take that for granted.”

Sequoia Locklear (10), who plays Mrs. Gibbs, the mother of George Gibbs in “Our Town,” described their character as “kind of an almond mom” who values the happiness of her family over her own endeavors.

To get into character, Locklear said that they repeat their lines as much as possible, change their voice to better fit Mrs. Gibbs, and try to put themselves in the character’s shoes.

In relation to how her character contributes to a main overarching message of the play, Locklear said that she hopes audiences “will take away [the message of] living life to the fullest” through her character.

“My character has a dream of going to Paris, but she never goes because her family doesn’t have a lot of money and she has to stay and take care of her family,” Locklear said. She dies before she can go, and it’s really sad. I hope that people take away from my character, just the beauty of life and living it while you can.”

Locklear considers themselves a “theater kid at heart” and loves singing and dancing. They have acted in a play every year since kindergarten. Aside from theater, Locklear enjoys reading, playing games, watching movies, and hanging out with their friends.

Locklear said she is happy that she gets to be a part of the play and hopes the audience will take away how “deep the play really is.”

“‘Our Town’ talks about life, and love, and death, and there’s so many interesting parts that you have to really be focused on the show to really recognize,” Locklear said. “Once you realize what’s going on, it is actually so tragic. It’s a really beautiful show and I’m so happy that I get to be a part of it because it is astonishing.”

Ashleigh Coulter (12) plays the role of Mrs. Webb, the mother of the main character Emily Webb. Coulter said the character is a hard working mother who looks out for her daughter

“I prepared a lot by taking acting lessons and really trying to get out of my comfort zone, because it’s kind of a different character than I’m used to playing,” Coulter said. “It’s been difficult, but it’s been a lot more fun to try this out.”

Outside of her role in the school play, Coulter said she loves to sing and dance.

“I’ve tried to get into singing more so I can kind of be involved throughout all three parts of theater: singing, acting and dancing,” Coulter said.

Coulter said some challenges while preparing for the play involved rehearsal attendance.

“We’ve faced a few challenges with absences and trying to make up for everyone not being there, because it is a pretty big cast than what we’re used to,” Coulter said.

Coulter hopes the audience will watch the play and think about the importance of gratitude.

“What I hope they take away is kind of like appreciation and like gratefulness for the life we have,” Coulter said. “Even though there are struggles as they’re shown in the play, we get to really kind of appreciate the little things in this play. I hope we can do that in our own lives.”

Jasper Meller (10) plays the role of Mr. Webb, who is the father of Emily and Wally Webb, husband to Mrs. Webb, and editor of the town’s newspaper, Grover’s Corners Sentinel. Meller describes Mr. Webb as a “very intelligent and thoughtful” person.

“Mr. Webb … he’s kind of [the] comedic relief at some points,” Meller said. “He shows a lot of the true nature of small actions that happen in town.”

Outside of “Our Town,” Meller has had experience acting in a few short films, comedies, festivals, and even a romantic play.

“This is my first play that’s this serious,” Meller said. “Until last year, I did a romantic play. This year is my first [play] that’s involving a more serious topic, like death.”

Meller said that before he’s able to get to the “fun” part of acting, he has to memorize his lines to ensure he knows them and can become his character comfortably. After that point, he’s able to dig deeper into the meaning of his lines.

Offstage, Meller plays lacrosse, and, when he’s not caught up in his math homework and studying, he enjoys nature, history, and going out into the wilderness with his friends.

Meller said he reflects on how those small moments add to the play as a whole. As the audience watches the play, Meller said he hopes they realize the importance of small interactions.

“[The] little moments that we all have in our daily lives, that type of thing, just small conversations in the same play as, such an existential feeling at the end [of the play] where [Emily is] looking back over her whole life,” Meller said. “I think the contrast of those two is really you’re able to realize how important the small moments are.”

Emily Hines (12) has two roles within “Our Town,” one being a professor at a university during the first act and the other being the

“Undertaker” in the final act, whose role is to supervise the graves.

“It’s been a lot of character work, like looking at each line and trying to think about my emotions and my characters’ in [each] moment,” Hines said.

Hines said that alongside preparations for the fall play, there were specific challenges for her to combat.

“I’ve definitely faced challenges, … [like] trying to balance the tone because act three itself is very heavy,” Hines said. “But my scene isn’t necessarily supposed to be sad [so] … [finding] that respectful aspect of [my role] and also keeping up some amount of energy in the scene.”

With help from Libera, Hines said she was able to find the proper balance between both of her characters.

When Hines is not participating in theater, she plays video games. Hines said that her favorite part about preparing for the “Our Town” play has been working with the DPHS theater community and seeing the play “come together.”

“I hope the audience will take away … a sense of self reflection … the core themes of [the play] centers around life and living it,” Hines said. “And I really hope that when the audience leaves play, they come out of it with a sense of wanting to appreciate their own life more.”

Jazmin Barba (12) has the role of Rebecca Gibbs, the younger sister of George Gibbs. She described her character as wanting “to know everybody’s business” and “get her way.” To prepare for her role, Barba consulted members of her family.

“I … looked at all my little siblings and my cousins and learned from their mannerisms,” Barba said. “I’m also a little sister, so I talked to my older sister and just learned from what I used to do.”

Outside of preparing for the fall play, Barba finds herself taking an interest in other art forms.

“I like painting and drawing,” Barba said. “I also like singing.”

Barba said her favorite part of the play was the connections she formed with fellow cast members, as she got to meet new people during rehearsals. Similarly to her cast mates, Barba said she wanted “Our Town” to send a message about enjoying life.

“I hope the audience takes away [the message], ‘Live in the moment,’” Barba said. “Just love life, don’t hate on it.”

Zachary Singer (10) has the role of Simon Stimson, who he said was “the town drunk,” Choir Director, and Church Organist.

“It’s a really fun role because he’s very much an outsider,” Singer said. “He’s very different from the other characters in the play.”

While Singer said he doesn’t have very many lines, he’s spent a lot of time preparing for his role.

“I’ve spent time looking over [my lines], getting them memorized, and really getting into character,” Singer said. “And I’ve watched YouTube videos of other people playing the same character.”

Because Stimson is the Choir Director, Singer familiarized himself with the profession. He said that this was his biggest challenge, as he “had to learn how to conduct a choir” without any prior knowledge.

“I had no idea how to do that,” Singer said. “I had zero experience with any kind of conducting or music theory in the past … but it was cool to learn how to do that.”

In order to learn about conducting, Singer worked with fellow cast member, Biz Fletcher (12).

“She’s very into choir and conducting … so she definitely helped me out a lot,” Singer said. “I got a little bit of help from Ms. Libera, but it was mostly Biz.”

Singer said his favorite part of the play is the third act. He said that it’s “very emotional” and deals with the central message of “Our Town.”

“I think if the audience doesn’t really know what the play’s about, they are going to be surprised how deep it is,” Singer said. “I think our cast is doing such a great job of putting a lot of heart and soul into their acting, and it’s really moving.”

Singer said that he would want the audience to take away the message of being grateful for what they have.

“I think the message would be to appreciate the small things in life,” Singer said. “Just really take in life day by day.”

“Everyone should buy tickets to ‘Our Town, It’s a really great show,”

Edited Nov. 17, 2024, for grammar errors.

Edited Nov. 19, 2024, for updated pictures and headline.