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A work of startling originality when it debuted in 1938, Thornton Wilder's Our Town evolved to be seen by some as a vintage slice of early 20th Century Americana, rather than being fully appreciated for its complex and eternal themes and its deceptively simple form. This unique and timely book shines a light on the play's continued impact in the 21st century and makes a case for the healing powers of Wilder's text to a world confronting multiple crises. Through extensive interviews with more than 100 artists about their own experience of the play and its impact on them professionally and personally – and including background on the play's early years and its pervasiveness in American culture – Another Day's Begun shows why this particular work remains so important, essential, and beloved.
Every production of Our Town has a story to tell beyond Wilder's own. One year after the tragedy of 9/11, Paul Newman, in his final stage appearance, played the Stage Manager in Our Town on Broadway. Director David Cromer's 2008 Chicago interpretation would play in five more cities, ultimately becoming New York's longest-running Our Town ever. In 2013, incarcerated men at Sing Sing Correctional Facility brought Grover's Corners inside a maximum security prison. After the 2017 arena bombing in Manchester UK, the Royal Exchange Theatre chose Our Town as its offering to the stricken community.
80 years after it was written, more than 110 years after its actions take place, Our Town continues to assert itself as an essential play about how we must embrace and appreciate the value of life itself. Another Day's Begun explains how this American classic has the power to inspire, heal and endure in the modern day, onstage and beyond.
Published | Jan 28 2021 |
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Format | Paperback |
Edition | 1st |
Extent | 288 |
ISBN | 9781350123434 |
Imprint | Methuen Drama |
Dimensions | 234 x 156 mm |
Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing |
An important book consisting of oral histories of 12 productions of the play that have opened since 2012 and prefaced by a richly detailed 34-page overview of the original Broadway production of the play's subsequent history up to the turn of this century.
The Wall Street Journal
The early chapters are full of fascinating 'Our Town' factoids, but the heart of 'Another Day's Begun' is the more than a dozen chapters outlining major productions of 'Our Town,' which Sherman presents as oral histories.
Hartford Courant
With the country splintered, its institutions shaken, a book documenting a classic American play affirming shared life experiences and bedrock values seems especially timely.
The Washington Post
Thornton Wilder's classic play Our Town is so familiar - and so often performed in a sanitized, sentimental style in high schools around the country - that it's easy to forget how bold this work originally proved. Author Howard Sherman tells the tale anew with Another Day's Begun: He brings the story up to date with examinations of the many bold and exciting productions that have appeared in the past 20 years.
Broadway Direct
If you love the play, you'll love the book. If you have believe it or not, never really even seen a production of Our Town, you'll love the book, because this book, as much as the play, is the story about people, and how we fit each other into our lives and what we mean to each other. One of the things you're struck by as you read about production after production, is that every production becomes its own small town, and you are inevitably touched by the lives that are uplifted. It's a great book.
Scott Simon, host of NPR's Weekend Edition Saturday
An engaging and deeply researched book for theater lovers and for anyone who has ever spent time with this Thornton Wilder masterpiece. The oral histories enliven the book with candid, often contrarian, views by the theatrical participants. The variety of stagings and performers in this century demonstrates Sherman's premise that Our Town is not a play of nostalgia and sentimentality but rather one that reminds us to savor every glorious moment of our ordinary lives. That's a tough but important message during this endless pandemic.
Third Coast Review
This book is available on Bloomsbury Collections where your library has access.
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