Our Town Writing Assignment

The play OUR TOWN is set in a fictional small New England town in the early years of the twentieth century, (1899-1911). The play depicts a cultural framework unique to that time and location. In the documentary OT: OUR TOWN, the play is produced by Dominguez High School in Compton, California, in 2002. Compton is a town of gangs, drugs, and gangsta rap. Somehow the students find a way that OUR TOWN can speak to them and inform them of their own culture and values. The two cultures are light years apart.

Discuss the ways the students are able to relate to the play, the concerns they have, and the conflicts the play brings up for them.

Underneath the historical, cultural milieu of OUR TOWN are deeper values about family, faith, love, marriage, and death that speak to all humans. But OUR TOWN is a piece of theatre, a work of art.

Using specific examples, discuss how theatre can bridge such different cultures. Then discuss how the play OUR TOWN relates to your life, your growing up, family, etc.\