Our Town performance at UMF, Titcomb

Actor Heather Lia Pape, who plays Rebecca Gibbs in the play Our Town, rehearses her lines in the field of Titcomb Mountain in Farmington. All actors have been rehearsing and will perform the play while wearing face coverings. Photo Courtesy of Ethan Wright

FARMINGTON — Director Ethan Wright has partnered with the non-profit organization Arts Farmington to bring performances of the play Our Town to the University of Maine at Farmington’s (UMF) amphitheater and to Titcomb Mountain August 27-30.

Our Town is set in the early 1900s and follows the high school sweetheart relationship of Emily Webb and George Gibbs as they marry and grow old together.

“So it’s the full cycle of life and the three parts of a relationship, but overall the theme is you never really appreciate life as its happening,” Wright, who has been rehearsing the play with his cast for the past two months, said in a phone interview.

Wright said that the play is ideal for performing under the state’s Center for Disease Control (CDC) guidelines because there is no singing and most scenes are between a small group of characters. The two outdoor venues also provide an outlet for the performance after so many community plays have been canceled due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Titcomb Mountain in Farmington will be hosting two of Our Town’s performances which will take place outside. The masked cast of the play, above, stands in the field where audience members will be seated. People are encouraged to bring chairs, blankets and picnics for the performance. Photo Courtesy of Ethan Wright

UMF’s amphitheater will provide 35 audience seats which is in keeping with Governor Janet Mills’ executive order that restricts no more than 100 people at outdoor gatherings. There are additional stipulations to the order that venues must follow such as no more than 5 people per 1,000 square feet and ensuring that the audience sits 14 feet away from the stage.

The audience at Titcomb Mountain will sit on a leveled out field on one of its ski slopes and watch the performance of Our Town on the patio in front of the warming lodge. With more space at Titcomb for an audience to spread out, Our Town is able to offer 85 tickets to its two mountain performances.

“The governor’s executive order has bumped up outdoor events to 100 people so obviously with them trying to raise money for their non-profit Arts Farmington, the more people that they can safely entertain in front of the better,” manager of Titcomb Mountain Seth Noonkester said in a phone interview. “So that’s why we were appealing to them because we had this front porch with a really cool, natural, amplifying front lawn here with the mountain.”

A sound system will be set up at both venues. Actors will wear clip-on microphones to help off-set the challenge of performing while wearing face coverings which has posed some interesting obstacles to overcome while acting.

“I am constantly saying, you need to exaggerate what you’re doing with your eyes,” Wright said.

Actor Peter Osborne, who plays several roles including a town doctor and the main character’s father, said that the cast has also been focusing on their tone of voice, cadence and dramatic pauses between lines.

“So its been challenging, and certainly this was the first time any of us had acted in a pandemic with masks so it was a learning experience for everybody, but I think we’ve effectively found ways around it,” Osborne said in a phone interview.

To ensure the safety of the cast, Wright also had to think about limiting props and keeping actors spaced out through stage direction.

As a result of these limitations, Wright has incorporated more miming into the play so that actors will perform actions such as washing dishes without any props.

“I think we do more of that because you can’t really pass around props without it being safe. You’d have to disinfect everything,” Wright said.

Even the actors’ face coverings will morph into the costume design since both of the main characters’ families are color coded which the masks will also reflect.

Wright even found foley artists to make live, natural sound effects instead of using a band or prerecorded noises. He also composed original music for the play that will be performed by a violinist and a clarinet. Minimizing the number of stage crew allows for more audience members, which also means actors will be playing several roles.

Actor Rachel Spear at left, who plays Emily Webb, and actor Trevor Sennick, who plays George Gibbs in the play Our Town, rehearse their lines at Titcomb Mountain in Farmington where the performance will take place August 29 and 30. Photo Courtesy of Ethan Wright

Titcomb Mountain may become a new option for performers as Arts Farmington president Burt Knapp said that the venue will be hosting its jazz concert at the mountain in September.

“We hadn’t been able to sponsor the types of indoor events that we usually do, but the town has been through—as all towns have been through—a difficult time with COVID and continuing to cope with it,” Knapp said in a phone interview. “So, we thought we’d try to lighten things up for the town and the town folks with an outdoor jazz concert that people can settle back and enjoy nice, fun music. And people will be allowed to bring their own food and drink and enjoy a late afternoon/evening concert.”

Arts Farmington hosts art performances throughout the year such as Maine Mountain Chamber Music in the spring and fall and the Nutcracker at Mt. Blue High School and will offer the jazz concert for free with donations welcomed. Knapp will be posting the date of the concert on the non-profit’s website at https://www.artsfarmington.org.

Titcomb Mountain manager Noonkester said that he’s welcoming any other ideas for events and performances at the ski mountain.

“We are open to any events, any private rentals,” he said. “We offer facility rentals within the COVID-19 guidelines as of right now.”

Tickets for Our Town are $10 and can be reserved by calling Arts Farmington at (207) 890-5730. The UMF shows are sold out, but tickets are still available at the Titcomb Mountain showings on Saturday, August 29, at 6 p.m. and Sunday, August 30, at 2 p.m.