(OCEAN GROVE, NJ) -- The Asbury Park Theater Company presents Thornton Wilder's Our Town across two weekends from May 21-31, 2026 at the Jersey Shore Arts Center. Described by Edward Albee as "the greatest American play ever written"- it is one of the defining plays of American theater. The production is directed by Bailey Dumlao.
The play centers around Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire, a small town representing all of human life in its simplicity and profoundness. The Pulitzer Prize-winning work has remained a classic for decades, unfolding in three acts, capturing ordinary moments that shape existence, and highlighting themes of life, love, and death. Through ordinary characters, the audience witnesses the beauty of everyday experiences. “Does anyone ever realize while they live it—every, every minute?”
The cast includes Desiree Lara (Stage Manager), Sophie Cox (Emily Webb), Aren Duffy (George Gibbs), Meg Whalen (Mrs. Webb), Jeff Parsons (Doc Gibbs), Jim Watson (Editor Webb), RoseMarie Franklin (Mrs. Julie Gibbs), Evelynn Knox (Rebecca), Anthony Cea (Wally), Jess Pace (Howie Newsome), John Paul Durazzo (Professor Willard, Simon Stimson), and Denise Sobotka (Louella Soames).
Performances take place Friday, May 22 at 8:00pm; Saturday, May 23 at 8:00pm; Sunday, May 24 at 2:00pm; Thursday, May 28 at 7:00pm; Friday, May 29 at 8:00pm; Saturday, May 30 at 8:00pm; and Sunday, May 31 at 2:00pm. Tickets are available for purchase online. Jersey Shore Arts Center is located at 66 S. Main Street in Ocean Grove, New Jersey.
Our Town opened on Broadway at Henry Miller's Theatre on February 4, 1938, produced and directed by Jed Harris. The original cast featured Frank Craven, Martha Scott and John Craven. The play returned to Broadway four times: in 1944 starring Marc Connelly; in 1969 starring Henry Fonda; in 1988 starring Spalding Gray; and in 2002 starring Paul Newman.
Thornton Wilder (1897-1975) is the only writer to win Pulitzer Prizes for both drama (Our Town and The Skin of Our Teeth) and fiction (The Bridge of San Luis Rey). He collaborated with Alfred Hitchcock on Shadow of a Doubt, hiked the Alps with the heavyweight boxing champion Gene Tunney, received a bronze star for his service in World War II, and was credited with discovering Orson Welles. He was also a much-loved teacher, letter-writer (especially with Gertrude Stein), and public speaker – in four languages. Hello, Dolly! is based on his play The Matchmaker. Read more about his exciting life below.
Thornton Wilder, born in Madison, Wisconsin, and educated at Yale and Princeton, was an accomplished novelist and playwright whose works explore the connection between the commonplace and the cosmic dimensions of human experience. The Bridge of San Luis Rey, one of his seven novels, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1928, and his next-to-last novel, The Eighth Day, received the National Book Award (1968). Two of his four major plays garnered Pulitzer Prizes: Our Town (1938) and The Skin of Our Teeth (1943). His play The Matchmaker ran on Broadway for 486 performances (1955-1957), Mr. Wilder’s Broadway record, and was later adapted into the record-breaking musical Hello, Dolly!
Mr. Wilder also enjoyed enormous success with many other forms of the written and spoken word, among them translation, acting, opera librettos, lecturing, teaching and film (his screenplay for Alfred Hitchcock’s 1943 psycho-thriller Shadow of a Doubt remains a classic to this day). Letter writing held a central place in Mr. Wilder’s life, and since his death, three volumes of his letters have been published.
Mr. Wilder’s many honors include the Gold Medal for Fiction from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the National Book Committee’s Medal for Literature. On April 17, 1997, the centenary of his birth, the US Postal Service unveiled the Thornton Wilder 32-cent stamp in Hamden, Connecticut, his official address after 1930 and where he died on December 7, 1975.
Mr. Wilder continues to be read and performed around the world. Our Town is performed at least once each day somewhere in this country, with his other major dramas and shorter plays not far behind. In 2008, Our Town and The Bridge of San Luis Rey were selected as a joint choice for the NEA’s “Big Read” Program. In recent years Wilder’s works have also inspired a growing number of adaptations, among them an opera based on Our Town (music by Ned Rorem, libretto by J.D. McClatchy) and a dramatized version of his novel Theophilus North (Matt Burnett). Reflecting the renewed interest in Mr. Wilder, the Thornton Wilder Society sponsored the first international conference on his works in fall 2008.
Asbury Park Theater Company offers an immersive performing arts experience that will leave you breathless. Their team of performers is made up of some of the best talent in the industry. They specialize in a variety of genres, including drama, comedy, and musical theatre. Their shows are designed to transport you to another world, with stunning sets, costumes, and lighting. They pride themselves on creating shows that are both entertaining and thought-provoking.
