The Theatre School Showcase, DePaul University, presents Thornton Wilder's Pulitzer Prize-winning play OUR TOWN March 5 -14, 1999 (previews 3/3 & 3/4) at DePaul’s Merle Reskin Theatre, 60 E. Balbo Drive, Chicago. Our Town marks the third play of the 1998-99 season to celebrate DePaul University's Centennial with the theme "The American Experience in the 20^th Century: Dreams Denied & Delayed, Lost & Found." The play is directed by Ric Murphy and features scenic design by Alexa Holmes, costume design by Kate Novello, lighting design by Karen Anderson and sound design by Jeffrey Webb.

Our Town has been produced and seen many thousands of times since its first week-long run in Boston more than 60 years ago. Director Ric Murphy’s vision of Wilder’s definitive work transcends the ordinary to create an environment that will inspire your imagination. The world of the play takes us back one hundred years to Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire, where Emily Webb and George Gibbs discover how wonderful it is to live and love and that is the small things in life that truly matter. Even now, the play illuminates patterns of human experience that remain unchanged in the face of progress.

"On its surface it seems very simple, but when you dig into it there is a great deal there to discover," says Mr. Murphy. "For instance, I doubt audience members will remember what it was like before automobiles. Yet the Stage Manager has all these lines where he says, ‘You know what I mean,’ and somehow that strikes a chord in the audience. They connect with this and say, ‘Yes, I do know.’ Emily says to the Stage Manager at the end of the play, ‘Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it?’ This play deals with the ordinariness of life in a very extraordinary way."

Our Town runs March 5 – 14, 1999 (previews 3/3 & 3/4). Performances are Wednesdays through Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. Morning matinees are scheduled at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, March 9 and Thursday, March 11. Both morning matinees and the evening performance on Thursday, March 11 will feature post-show discussions. Performances are held at the DePaul University Merle Reskin Theatre, 60 E. Balbo Drive, Chicago. Discount parking is available with coupons from the Box Office.

DINNER OFFER: The Theatre School has partnered with the Hilton Chicago and Towers to feature a special dinner offer at The Pavilion, the Mediterranean café on the lobby level of the hotel across the street from the theatre. Dinners are $20.00 for adults or $11.00 for children 12 and under and may be purchased through the Theatre Box Office.

The Ides of March, as well as the classic The Matchmaker in 1955. Its successful musical adaptation, Hello, Dolly!, won 10 Tony awards in 1964 in its inaugural run on Broadway.

Director RIC MURPHY is a professor of Acting at The Theatre School. He was co-director of Map of the World Players at West Virginia University's Creative Arts Center and has directed readings of new work at the Goodman Theatre. Directing credits include Oedipus, Hamlet, Royal Family, Tuck Everlasting, This is Not a Pipe Dream and a production of King Lear with Morris Carnovsky. He also directed Stephen Serpas' Dogstar and Xenogensis at Eclipse Theatre Company, which received Joseph Jefferson Awards for Best Ensemble and Best Sound Design. He is Vocalized Sounds Effects Advisor for the Goodman Theatre's upcoming production of Regina Taylor's Oo Bla Dee. Most recently, Mr. Murphy directed Ionesco's Exit the King at the Actor’s Gang Theatre in Los Angeles featuring Theatre School alumnus John C. Reilly.

Further information about Our Town and The Theatre School is available via the Internet on The Theatre School's Website, located at http://theatreschool.depaul.edu.

For information and to purchase tickets, call the Box Office at (312) 922-1999.

The Theatre School was founded as the Goodman School of Drama in 1925 and is a member of the League of Chicago Theatres, the Illinois Arts Alliance and the Illinois Alliance for Arts Education.