Thorton Wilder at a Glimpse/ Notes on Theme

Hello everybody. Here is a digital version of the handout you read today in class.



Thornton Niven Wilder was born in Madison, Wisconsin, in 1897. The second of Amos Parker Wilder and Isabella Niven Wilder's five children, Wilder spent his childhood traveling back and forth to the Far East where his father was posted as the United States Consul General to Hong Kong and Shanghai. A strict Congregationalist with a Ph.D. in economics from Yale, Amos read to his children from the classics and insisted that they spend their summers working on farms. Wilder's mother was a cultured, educated woman who instilled a love of literature, drama, and languages in her children. She read widely, wrote poetry, and was actively involved in the cultural life of communities where they lived. She was the first woman elected to public office in Hamden, Connecticut. Thornton remembered her "like one of Shakespeare's girls -- a star danced and under it I was born."

The Wilder children were all highly educated and accomplished, as their father and mother expected. Thornton's older brother Amos was an acclaimed New Testament scholar and nationally ranked tennis player. His oldest sister Charlotte was an award-winning poet who suffered a nervous breakdown in 1941 and remained in institutions the rest of her life. His youngest sister, Janet Wilder Dakin, was a professor of biology and noted environmentalist. Of all the Wilder family members, however, Thornton was closest to his middle sister Isabel, herself the author of three successful novels and a member of the first graduating class of the Yale School of Drama (1928). She acted as his secretary, business manager, and literary adviser. After her parents' deaths, she and Thornton lived together in the family home in Hamden, Connecticut.


While living in Chicago, Wilder became close friends with fellow lecturer Gertrude Stein and her companion, Alice B. Toklas. In fact, Stein's novel The Making of Americans (1925) is said to have inspired Wilder's Our Town (1938). Tracing the childhood, courtship, marriage, and death of Emily Webb and George Gibbs, the play finds universal meaning in the ordinary lives lived in Grover's Corners, New Hampshire. (The fictional town was based on Peterborough, New Hampshire, where Wilder spent summers at the MacDowell Colony.) A huge success on Broadway, Our Town earned Wilder his second Pulitzer, making him the only American author to win Pulitzer Prizes for both fiction and drama. Wilder himself took on the role of the Stage Manager for two weeks in the Broadway production and in summer stock productions in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. (In 1988, the play's 50th anniversary revival on Broadway earned the Tony Award for Best Revival; the 2003 Westport Country Playhouse revival would earn a Tony nomination for the same award.)


Here is a video of director Gregory Boyd speaking about Thorton Wilder and his own production of Our Town. 

Discussion: with your groups, discuss what Mr. Boyd means when says the bare set design helps reveal"universals of people and the deeper truths." What does he mean by the term "universals?" What literary term might be used to describe what he's talking about?

Themes: the statement(s), expressed or implied, that a text seems to be making about its subject.  All literature deals with the human condition: the struggles, thoughts, and emotions that are experienced by all people, regardless of status, beliefs, ethnicity, etc.  For example, if your play takes place during the Civil Rights era, a theme of your work could be the effect that racism has on the black working class. 

All good plays (dramas AND comedies alike) deal with human struggle and human themes to communicate the human condition. Effective plays help us to realize certain truths and understand our world more clearly Your plays should do the same thing! The key to writing an effective play is to write about a theme or idea that you feel passionate about.

Here's an interesting video on how themes from fiction actually make us more aware about the world we live in, and as a result, change our way of thinking.

HW: 1. Please read over your notes about characterization as well as the blog notes on the types of characterization. That blog can be read here. It may be a good idea to jot down some of the terms and ideas from that blog in your notebook. Be prepared for a short characterization assignment during class on Wednesday.

 2. Please read this article about an urban school putting on a production of Our Town. In a well developed paragraph (5-7 sentences), please explain how Our Town, a play that takes place in a small, middle-class village, is still able to relate to students living in an impoverished city, rife with dangers and violence that Grover's Corner never had to worry about. In your response, be sure to include an explanation of universal themes and how it relates to the article. DUE: Thursday, September 13.