I don’t know why
Thornton Wilder’s classic 1938 play, Our
Town, popped into my mind but
it’s been lingering there for a few days and I suddenly realized why – it was,
after all, a time travel piece! An unlikely, metatheatrical time travel piece
that anyone over the age of 60 will remember. After all, it was a standard high
school production along with one of Shakespeare’s tragedies.
Usually, when we think
of time travel, we envision time machines, formulas, and supernatural devices. That’s
why it struck me as so odd that such a timeless play as Our Town really ventured into the world of time travel. But it did,
and it left audiences wondering the great “what if.”
What
if we could go back in time to re-live an ordinary day like Emily Webb did when
she returned to Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire, to re-live her 12th
birthday. That’s the stuff of time travel. For Emily, it was too heart-breaking
and she had to return to her grave. But for most of us, the temptation would
far outweigh the sadness.
Imagine
seeing old friends and family and knowing what’s in store for them? Would you
keep it to yourself or let them in on it? I’d be more than happy to share the
universal generalities that I’ve learned:
"Chocolate is actually good for you."
“Wearing a girdle is bad for you.”
“The water in canned vegetables is
probably more nutritious than the vegetables.”
“White bread will eventually kill
you.”
“You’ll never keep up with
technology – financially and otherwise.”
I’m not so sure
I’d want to share some of the more personal stuff:
“Don’t hire Kimberly as your nanny!
She’ll wind up having an affair with your husband.”
“Don’t ride on Space Mountain. You’re
going to throw-up and be banned from Disney World.”
“Opening your own winery/bread &
breakfast/organic restaurant is not a good idea.”
And
when would we want to go back? At age 12, 21, 34? Personally, I’d pick age 14
and find myself screaming in front of the Ed Sullivan Theater as the Beatles
gave their first U.S. performance. I
have a cousin who would pick age 20- something as long as he was following
Jerry Garcia and The Grateful Dead.
But I’ll tell
you what I won’t pick:
My
first day in algebra class.
My
first night at Camp Mohegan.
Taking
the Amtrak across the U.S. with less than fifty bucks to my name.
Thornton
Wilder wanted his audience to appreciate the universality of life. Of course
most of us who left the theater were too busy sobbing our eyes out. That’s why
I like to keep a lighter approach to time travel. Still, if you combining
sentimentality to the time-space continuum, you may just want to re-read this
one. But don’t be looking for any high school performances any time soon. They’ve
moved on to 10 Ways to Survive the Zombie
Apocalypse and A Seussified Christmas
Carol.
