Jill Holloway – Thomasville Times Enterprise – Originally published October 13, 2025.

Find the meaning of love, life, and death this weekend as Our Town graced the stage at Thomasville On Stage and Company. Directed by Pat Orr, Our Town explores the relationship between two young Grover’s Corners neighbors, George Gibbs (Stephen Sykes) and Emily Webb (Emily Brooks), whose childhood friendship blossoms into romance and then culminates in marriage. When Emily loses her life in childbirth, the circle of life portrayed in each of the three acts of Our Town– growing up, adulthood, and death— is fully realized. For Orr, the circle of life extends beyond the play and onto the stage, as her daughter and son-in-law will star alongside one another for the first and last time as a family of two. While working at Cairo High School, Orr taught Our Town to numerous students, including her young daughter, Julie Padgett. As her daughter grew up, she would often attend showings of Our Town with her mother. When the opportunity presented itself to star under her mother’s direction, she couldn’t resist. Shortly after being cast in the production, Orr lamented to her daughter that she couldn’t find anyone to play the role of Professor Willard. That’s when Julie said her husband, Shane, wanted to join the cast. The casting decision made the play, which focuses on small-town America, all the more real, as the show sees the daily lives of those in small towns, from being in choir together to knowing everything about one another.

Having seen and taught the play, Orr wanted to keep its foundation, but used the cast’s own small-town experiences to shape the presentation. “We haven’t changed the lines, but just the actions,” she said. During the third and final act, George brings flowers to Emily in the cemetery. While rehearsing, several characters who are George’s friends in the play just stood and watched him; despite it not being in the director’s notes, Orr felt that the moment was an authentic moment of true friendship. “If he’s going to visit his wife, sure his friends would stay and wait for him,” she said. “I’ve really tried to let them be free and play that role as they see fit.” Giving the cast free range has also provided for quite a laugh. Set in the 1900s, Our Town features a milkman providing goods to the residents in the neighborhood. While Orr believed everyone understood the milkman was delivering the milk on a horse and buggy, one actor was under the impression that a milkman brought the cow and milked it right at the door. “I have laughed and laughed,” Orr said. This time spent with the cast and crew laughing over misinterpretations and building bonds isn’t lost on Orr, as she sees time as the central theme in Our Town. “Time is so important and we don’t even realize it,” she said. “Take time to look at each other. We get so busy in our everyday life, we run and run, but time goes by and we don’t get it back.”

Time is something Emily Webb realizes in the play, too, although it is too late, when she is asked to go back to one day in her life after her passing and say “Goodbye” to everything. However, Orr assures it is not a sad scene, as Webb has come to terms with her time running out. Still on the clock are all her family, friends, and neighbors, though.

Attendees will watch as Dr. Gibbs (Brenden Forrest), Joe Crowell (Kayden Shiver), Howie Newsome (Addysen Curtis), Mrs. Gibbs (Randi Such), Mrs. Webb (Erin Fielding), Rebecca Gibbs (Jadie Such), Wally Webb (Cam Carvin), Mr. Webb (Bill Bass), Simon Stimson (David Kennedy & Jacob Welch), Mrs. Soames (Julie Padgett), Si Cowell (Liam Stone), Josephine Stoddard (Lisa Salveter), and Samantha Craig (Kennedi Smart) learn to live without Emily as time marches on. Our Town opened its curtains on Friday, October 17, 2025, at 7 p.m. with showings on Saturday, October 18, Sunday, October 19, Friday, October 24, Saturday, October 25, and Sunday, October 26. Friday and Saturday night shows are at 7 p.m., while Sunday showings were held at 2 p.m. Adult tickets are $20, while student tickets are $15.

This was the first show of the 2025/26 season with a full lineup recently announced. Other shows will include The Gift of the Magi, Annie, Cabaret, and possibly Seussical the Musical for the Kids’ Camp, happening in Summer 2026.

Read more at: https://timesenterprise.com/2025/10/13/tosac-presents-our-town-an-american-masterpiece/