Actors in Jackson High School production of 'Our Town' say play's message has taught them life lessons

Taylor Poore is an active teen.

She's Jackson High School's student body president, vice president of National Honor Society and is immersed in theater and debate.

"I pretty much do everything around here because I love high school," Poore said. "I'm going to miss it so much."

The 17-year-old senior is a typical youth, in love with today and crazy about tomorrow's possibilities. But this weekend Poore will take Jackson High theatergoers through "Our Town," Thornton Wilder's theatrical classic that demands a relentless world -- even a fast-paced teen -- slow down and realize that life "goes so fast."

Poore plays the part of the stage manager, charged with directing the audience through the personal lives of the people, particularly George Gibbs and Emily Webb Gibbs, in a New Hampshire town in the early 20th century. It's in the third act, in Emily's passing, that Wilder drives home the bitter-sweetness of living.

"It goes so fast. We don't have time to look at one another," Emily says as she settles into Wilder's stark version of the afterlife. "Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it? -- every, every minute."

Poore said the play has made her stop and appreciate her life, to take a long look at the vibrant fall colors, as her director Bob Clubbs advised his theater students at a recent rehearsal.

"I am that girl who gets emotional about the end of the school year, graduating and going away from here," Poore said. "The last scene, [the dead] are all waiting on something they know is coming. It makes me realize I still have a chance to live my life, and I don't have to be Emily. I don't have to look back and wish I had paid more attention or told my parents I loved them one more time. I can do that now."

Lydia Meece does have to be Emily.

Meece plays the role of the sweet girl turned blushing bride cut down in the prime of her life. Meece said she sees a lot of similarities in the character she plays.

"I try to think I'm wiser in some ways by realizing what I have now -- I hope," Meece said.

When the senior takes the stage Friday night, she, too, will be trying to capture the past.

"The best time I ever did the main monologue was in auditions, and I'm just getting back to that moment and connecting with all the others," Meece said. "But that's the best part of being in a play, you find the things that are unexpected and the really beautiful moments."

mkittle@semissourian.com

388-3627

IF YOU GO

"Our Town" will be performed at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Jackson High School auditorium

Pertinent address:

315 S. Missouri St., Jackson MO