The Stage Manager Is A Man Of

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The Stage Manager Is A Man Of Many Roles Essay, Research Paper The Stage Manager is a man of many roles. Usually a stage manager is part of the non-acting staff and in complete charge of the bodily aspects of the production. In Thornton Wilder?s Our Town, the Stage Manager goes well beyond his usual function in a play and undertakes a large role as a performer. In Our Town the Stage Manager is a narrator, moderator, philosopher, and an actor. Through these roles the Stage Manager is able to communicate the theme of universality in the play. The main role of the Stage Manager is that of narrator and moderator. He keeps the play moving by capsule summations and subtle hints about the future. "I?ve married over two-hundred couples in my day. Do I believe in it? I don?t

know? M?.marries N?.millions of them. The cottage, the go-cart, the Sunday-afternoon drives in the Ford, the first rheumatism, the grandchildren, the second rheumatism, the deathbed, the reading of the will-once in a thousand times it?s interesting"(699). Here the Stage Manager is giving insight about George and Emily?s future. He is hinting about their life and fate to come. "Goin? to be a great engineer, Joe was. But the war broke out and he died in France. All that education for nothing" (673). The incidents discussed about are great events in George, Emily, and Joe?s lives. The Stage Manage emphasizes that the short things in these people?s lives are overlooked. There isn?t realization that it is the small parts of their lives that make a difference. His role

as narrator differs from most narration. The Stage Manager?s narration shows casualness. The casualness connects the Stage Manager to the audience. "Presently the STAGE MANAGER, hat on and pipe in mouth?he has finished setting the stage and leaning against the right proscenium pillar watches the late arrivals in the audience."(671) The informality is evident since he smokes a pipe, wears a hat, and leans formally against the proscenium pillar. He also greets and dismisses the audience at the beginning and end of each act. The stage manager interrupts daily conversation on the street. The Stage Manager enters and leaves the dialog at will. He is also giving the foresight of death in the play. His informality in dress, manners, and speech, connects the theme,

universality, of the production to the audience. His actions make the audience feel that he is a part of the audience. It is as though he is "one of the guys" or one with the audience. Philosophy was also another of the Stage Managers avocations. His philosophies are about daily life, love and marriage and death. "Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it? -every, every minute?(708) Every, every detail in one?s life has an impact. It effects life from that moment forward. Each detail impacts the whole universe. "Only this one is straining away, straining away all the time to make something of itself. The strain?s so bad that every sixteen hours everybody lies down and gets a rest"(709). This philosophy on daily life is that every single

detail matters and the living overlook the small things. People strain over the big things in life and do not take the time to enjoy the ordinary "small" events in life. "Almost everybody in the world gets married-you know what I mean? In our town there aren?t hardly any exceptions. Most everybody in the world climbs into their graves married?People were made to live two by two" (696). His philosophy on love and marriage is traditional. He represents the feelings of a large population that do not want to live the single life. This philosophy on love and marriage is universal, pertaining to many people. The Stage Manager takes this universal theory and relates it to one couple, in one place, in one period of time. "Now there is some things we all know, but