Video: Why the Broadway Revival of Our Town 'Sounds Like a New Play'

Kenny Leon wants to change your perception of Thornton Wilder's Our Town, the theatre staple that you probably acted in or saw when you were a teenager: "People have it in mind that Our Town is old. [But] Our Town is synonymous for our world, our time," says Leon. See the Tony-winning director and his skilled cast discuss the new Broadway revival of Our Town in the video above.

This production features an all-star cast, with Jim Parsons leading the cast as the Stage Manager. The recent Tony nominee (for Mother Play) admits that as the one person who gets to speak directly to the audience every night, he doesn't feel like he's playing a character. "It doesn't feel like I have a character to guard myself behind at all," he says, admitting that it can be scary but at the same time, "It makes it very enjoyable when I'm in it and when I feel connected [to the audience]."

READ: Kenny Leon on That Time He Directed 2 Plays in 2 Cities, At the Same Time

Our Town is currently running at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, with opening night set for October 10. Performances are scheduled to continue through January 19, 2025. The 1938 play centers on ordinary life in Grover's Corners, New Hampshire, between 1901 and 1931. The work has become one of the most beloved in the repertoire, and one of the most frequently produced. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama the year it premiered and has been revived on Broadway in 1944, 1969, 1989, and 2003.

For Julie Halston, that interpersonal connection is what makes Our Town's themes so enduring. "When you're in a theatre, you're part of a community, this is a play about community. Doesn't matter if you're in Boise, Greenwich Village, Grover's Corners', Dublin, Ireland—you're part of a community," she says.