George Town

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Our Town (1938), a play by Thornton Wilder. [Henry Miller Theatre, 336 perf.; Pulitzer Prize.] The Stage Manager ( Frank Craven) walks onto a bare, uncurtained stage, with only a few chairs and tables as props, and narrates the events of a typical American small town, Grover's Corner, New Hampshire, in the years 1901 to 1913. The town is going about its leisurely, traditional business. Professor Willard ( Arthur Allen) and Editor Webb ( Thomas W. Ross) describe the town's scientific and social backgrounds, and much of the drama centers on the families of Webb and Dr. Gibbs ( Jay Fassett). The first act, “Daily Life,” focuses on the ordinary pursuits of the town on a May Day in 1901. The second act, “Love and Marriage,” describes the courtship and marriage of Emily Webb ( Martha Scott) and George Gibbs ( John Craven). The third act presents the funeral of Emily, who has died in childbirth. Offered a chance to return to relive any one special day in her life, she selects her twelfth birthday. But the return is painful, for she realizes that the living cannot appreciate how precious life's small moments really are. Moving back to the cemetery, where she finds George crying at her grave, she muses to her mother‐in‐law, beside whom she is buried, “They don't understand, do they?” “No, dear, they don't understand,” Mrs. Gibbs responds. With that, the Stage Manager sends the audience home. One of the most original and popular of all American plays, it was praised by Richard Lockridge of the Evening Sun for its “rare simplicity and truth.” Its vibrant humanity—its expression of a sense of “something way down deep that's eternal about every human being”—has helped establish it as an American classic, while its continued appeal can be attributed in good part to its moving depiction of simpler times and simple values. Largely because of its basic sets and optimistic message, it has long been popular with amateur theatrical groups, but noteworthy New York revivals were seen in 1959 at the Circle in the Square, in 1969 with Henry Fonda as the Stage Manager, in 1988 with Spalding Gray, and in 2002 with Paul Newman.

George Town town (1989 pop. 12,921), capital and administrative center of the Cayman Islands , in the West Indies. A major offshore banking and business center, it is the site of several hundred banks. In addition, many companies have subsidiaries there because of the substantial tax advantages. Tourism, including skin diving and duty-free shopping, is also economically important.