Finished: Our Town (Wilder) So many feelings evoked with so few words...great play! The simple story of small town life in the early 1900's during three different small slices of time with the same people. Act One, the Webbs and the Gibbs are next door neighbors with two kids each. Both George Gibbs and Emily Webb are sixteen and friends. Act Two, high school graduation day and George and Emily are in love and it's also their wedding day. Act Three, funeral time...nine years later. Emily has died giving birth to their second child. A few flashbacks are thrown in so we see exactly when George and Emily decided they are meant to be together. The scenery and props are bare minimum. The words bring the power and emotions. It's as if you live each one of the Acts with them. Truly, how can Wilder say so much with so little? While someone like James has to use over 400 pages to, quite frankly, not give me nearly as clear a picture of those moments in life?? Sure would love to see this acted out on the stage. In the meantime, this has prompted me to Google "Top 100 Plays" to see what comes up. I know that all of Shakespeare's works are plays, but a couple of his show up on book lists. Lordy, you have to be specific. I Googled "Top 100 Plays" and the third entry was baseball plays. Really?? Anyway, a fast, but meaningful read, Our Town. :-)