A play featuring a soda fountain set in early 20th century New England is absolutely relevant to present day Juneau, said its 20-something leads.<\/p>\n
“Our Town” will start Perseverance Theatre’s 40th season in early October. Ty Yamaoka, 27, and Ashleigh Watt, 21, who portray George and Emily in the meta, time-jumping classic said its themes have aged well.<\/p>\n
“I think this is a really beautiful play that at its core is about life,” Watt said. “I went home the other night and hugged my mom. She said, ‘What are you doing weirdo?’ I said, ‘I just love you so much.’ This play has really made me appreciate the little things in life.”<\/p>\n
While “Our Town” is a relatively lean three-act play and clocks in at less than two hours, it covers a number of common, timeless experiences.<\/p>\n
“Growth and love and life and marriage and death, it’s all there,” said Art Rotch, artistic director for Perseverance Theatre.<\/p>\n
Yamaoka and Watt, 13- and 20-year residents of Juneau respectively, said the play’s New England setting also transcends its specificity.<\/p>\n
“Reading the play, I kept picturing downtown Juneau,” Yamaoka said.<\/p>\n
He said while Juneau isn’t a town of 3,000, he didn’t strain to picture a place where everyone knew each other and was tuned into local gossip.<\/p>\n
Rotch said a scene in which characters put an argument on hold to acknowledge a mutual acquaintance walking by especially fit that mold.<\/p>\n
“There’s a lot of things like that,” Rotch said.<\/p>\n
Getting set<\/p>\n
The space and minimal set both set “Our Town” apart from other productions, the actors and director said.<\/p>\n
“Something very specific to Perseverance Theatre is the use of the space and the staging,” Yamaoka said.<\/p>\n
And a set that includes ladders as a stand-in for multi-floor houses contributes to Yamaoka and Watt’s favorite scene.<\/p>\n
“I really love the ladder scene because we’re standing on ladders that represent the floors of our houses. We have this moment where we’re talking to each other and doing homework. I love how that scene feels.”<\/p>\n
Yamaoka said he’d have to agree.<\/p>\n
The scene features stammering, an attempt to whistle and George’s attempt to secure some help with algebra homework.<\/p>\n
“It’s so awkward still,” he said. “There’s so much innocence still.”<\/p>\n
Making it their own<\/p>\n
Since “Our Town” marks the theater’s 40th anniversary, some considerations were taken to make it a unique production.<\/p>\n
Rotch said an all-Alaskan cast was a priority.<\/p>\n
Watt and Yamaoka said the cast is a big part of what will give shows a special character.<\/p>\n
“I think the characters themselves have developed deep relationships,” Yamaoka said.<\/p>\n
Watt said the cast is warm, supportive and forgiving.<\/p>\n
Plus, Irene Bedard, whose credits include both Disney movies and HBO series “Westworld,” brings a unique presence as the Stage Manager.<\/p>\n
“I think Irene brings a lighthearted energy,” Rotch said. “There’s a lot of humor.”<\/p>\n
That helps offset some of the heavier themes and events in the play.<\/p>\n
“It’s kind of emotionally exhausting,” Watt said. “We’re so happy. Now, we’re so sad and so angry.”<\/p>\n
Know & Go<\/p>\n
What:<\/strong> “Our Town”<\/p>\n When:<\/strong> Previews will be at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 2 and 4. Regular performances run Oct. 5-Nov. 3, with curtain times at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, and at 4 p.m. Sundays, plus a 7:30 p.m. performance Wednesday, Oct. 24 (half-price Juneau Arts Night).<\/p>\n Where:<\/strong> Perseverance Theatre, 914 Third St., Douglas.<\/p>\n Admission: <\/strong>Oct. 7 and 11 shows are Pay-What-You-Can. Regular single tickets are $28-$44 for adults, $19-$27 for students, and are available at www.ptalaska.org or by calling 907-463-TIXS (8497).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A play featuring a soda fountain set in early 20th century New England is absolutely relevant to present day Juneau, said its 20-something leads.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106,"featured_media":35514,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":9,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,4],"tags":[73,116,325],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-35513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home","category-news","tag-ccw","tag-ccw-features","tag-perseverance-theatre"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/106"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35513\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35513"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=35513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}