By Clara Moffitt
On Sept. 30 at 7 p.m., the 6C section of Tempe Prep gathered in the Zelman Center to tell the story of Our Town to faculty, friends, and family. “Our Town is a touching story about life and death,” Mrs. Moffitt comments.
Kylie Klassen plays the female lead Emily Webb. “Emily is girly and innocent. She is uncertain about how others feel about her and is very smart,” Kylie explains, adding, “Everyone was energized and ready to rock!”
For those who saw the show, you would agree that Kylie did an excellent job. This is because every night she would spend an hour on her lines!
The male lead is George Gibbs played by Ethan Moore. Ethan’s summary of his character is, “George lived in Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire. He had one sister named Rebecca, and his parents were Frank and Julia Gibbs. George was friends with a girl named Emily (Kylie Klassen), and when he grew up, they got married.”
“The hardest part was knowing when to come on stage,” Ethan confesses. According to Ethan, the play turned out to be a lot better than he expected. “I think everybody did a really good job remembering [their] lines and blocking,” he states. Ethan relates to George because he asks a lot of questions.
The director of 6C’s mini version of Our Town is Mr. Sanderson. He says it was hard to direct Our town because “It’s got a lot of pieces and is a real puzzle figuring out the blocking with 22 actors.” He says it is a really hard play.
Mr. Sanderson wanted to put on Our Town because it is a beautiful play, and “a good fit for the 6th graders.” Mr. Sanderson was happiest at how engaged the audience was. People were laughing and crying! He says, “When the audience is so engaged, you know you put on a good performance.”
Mr. Sanderson is very impressed with the 6th graders this quarter. He would like to leave 6C with one last comment: “For many of you this was your first time in a play. It was a challenge, but you learned a lot of theatre and hopefully had fun.”