A CENTURY OF CREATIVITY
THE MACDOWELL COLONY 1907-2007

  • OUR TOWN
    Featured Objects

  • Petersborough, New Hamphsire
  • Thornton Wilder with Marian MacDowell on Marian MacDowell Day
  • 'Our Town, a Play in Three Acts'
  • Our Town, c. 2005
  • Photo from Rorem's production of 'Old Town'

OUR TOWN, A PLAY IN THREE ACTS.

'Our Town, a Play by Thornton Wilder, in Three Acts'

enlarge imageOur Town, a Play in Three Acts.
Thornton Wilder.
New York: Coward McCann, Inc., 1938.
First edition.
Rare Book and Special Collections Division,
Library of Congress (31) Digital ID # mc0031

Our Town, a Play in Three Acts.

Thornton Wilder’s Pulitzer-prize winning play Our Town was one of the most performed plays of the twentieth century.  Set in the fictional town of Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire, Our Town was inspired in part by Peterborough, New Hampshire—home of The MacDowell Colony.  Wilder worked nine seasons at the Colony, including a residency in 1937, while he was writing Our Town.  Although he avoided identifying Grover’s Corners with any real place, its similarity to Peterborough is unmistakable.

By permission of Tappan wilder. All rights reserved.

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