The Stage Manager Is a Man of Many Roles

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... [continues]

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