Our Town explores love, loss and life’s fragility

What: Our Town – VIU Theatre department’s fall play

When: October 31 to November 9, 7:30 pm

Where: Malaspina Theatre (Building 310), Nanaimo campus

Our Town explores the universal human experience of growing up, falling in love and dying. It conveys powerful messages about the beauty and fleeting nature of life and the fact that people often take it for granted.

The play tells the story of two young neighbours, George Gibbs and Emily Webb, as their friendship evolves into romance and marriage. When Emily dies in childbirth, the circle of life is portrayed.

Our Town, written by American playwright Thornton Wilder, is this year’s fall play presented by Vancouver Island University’s (VIU’s) Theatre department. Wilder’s Our Town won the Pulitzer Prize in Drama. It is directed by Dorothy Dittrich, a local playwright. Dittrich won the 2022 Governor General’s Literary Award for her play The Piano Teacher: A Healing Key.

“I love this play so much! It's a beautiful and timeless play. Though it’s set in a small New England town at the turn of the 20th century, I believe it is wonderfully suited to our time,” said Dittrich. “A seemingly simple story, it talks about what it is to be alive – what connects us, what concerns us, how we go through our days, and ultimately how we express our humanity ­– so, in a way, it's about everything and in truth, it's not simple at all.”

VIU alums Justin McFaddon and Lukas Smith are also helping with the production.

Our Town shows at Malaspina Theatre. Showtimes are October 31, November 1, 2, 6, 7, 8 and 9 at 7:30 pm. Tickets are $11.30 and are available on Showpass.

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Media Contact:

Rachel Stern, Communications Officer, Vancouver Island University

C: 250.618.0373 l E: Rachel.Stern@viu.ca | X: @VIUNews

The VIU community acknowledges and thanks the Snuneymuxw, Quw’utsun, Tla’amin, Snaw-naw-as and Qualicum First Nation on whose traditional lands we teach, learn, research, live and share knowledge.