Roseburg High's 'Our Town' opens today

Donte Holloway interrupted actors mid-scene, shooed them offstage, nodded and even spoke to an imaginary crowd when he wasn't watching scenes unfold from the stage's edge.

Along with other cast members, the Roseburg High School senior was practicing his upcoming role in Thornton Wilder's American classic “Our Town” on Tuesday.

RHS will present a matinee for college-bound juniors and seniors today. Public performances will be Thursday through Saturday evenings.

Holloway took the role of Stage Manager, Wilder's omnipotent narrator who reverses and fast-forwards the time frame. The Stage Manager explains to audiences the goings-on of Grover's Corner, actions that never quite make it onto the sparsely set stage.

RHS drama teacher Brad Allen wore sweatpants that contrasted sharply with an earlier century's high-top leather shoes, pocket watches and puffed sleeves. Allen directed his cast through warm-up exercises to limber up their tongues, lips and teeth for the final dress rehearsal.

“This is the last time you will ever do this show for no one,” he reminded the students.

Allen said fall plays for the teacher/director are about quality in both the play and the acting, even if those plays don't incite the instant feedback of audience laughter.

“Like Shakespeare or great tragedies, it might seem bleak and dark, but the life-giving elements are inspiring,” Allen said.

Wilder's focus on the little wonders that brighten up the real drama of life and death could be meaningful to the community as the recession and high unemployment crawls on, he said.

Allen knows the Wilder piece won't be the big draw that musicals are, but he guessed there were about 1,500 to 2,000 loyal fans who come to every RHS production.

Students from ninth to 12th grade were cast in the play during open auditions, and all but a few are in Allen's drama classes.

While some of the older students may understand the play better, Allen said all the students involved can identify with the play on a gut level.

Lydia Barger, a stage crew member, was sorting through the stage makeup in the green room. The sophomore was taking a break from acting to experience the backstage side of performing and was enjoying watching from the wings.

“I like the play. It's a good depiction of an American town — especially one like Roseburg,” she said. “You listen to it and it sounds like something you'd have here.”

Keaton McNown plays Mr. Gibbs and has acted in 14 plays, but the senior expects “Our Town” will be his last as he moves closer to graduation and college.

McNown said the somber play seemed more substantial than other productions in which he's acted.

“I think it has more of a meaning — the whole, do the people living really ever discover what life is really about?” he said. “Do they ever really live their lives? Instead of just kind of living, do they ever discover what it all means?”

McNown enjoyed his part, one of the few that had a comical bent.

Another actor used to comedy was sixth-grader William Bourdages, who played Schwarz last year in “A Christmas Story” at Umpqua Community College.

Tuesday night, he was patiently getting his bow tie adjusted for another scene as the young paper boy, Joe Crowell.

“It's a lot more serious,” he admitted. “But it's cool to learn how it was back then.”

• You can reach reporter DD Bixby at 957-4211 or by e-mail at dbixby@nrtoday.com.