Laguna Beach High School Theatre invites audiences to a performance of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town at the Laguna Beach High School Artists Theatre.
Set in the small town of Grover’s Corners, “Our Town” follows the relationship of young lovers Emily Webb and George Gibbs over the course of 1901 to 1913. Narrated by special guest artist Mark Dressler in the role of the Stage Manager, audiences follow the Webb and Gibbs families through three acts as their children fall in love, marry, and eventually—in one of the most famous scenes in American theatre—die.
The playwright’s stage directions call for “Our Town” to be performed on an unadorned stage: “No curtain. No scenery. The audience, arriving, sees an empty stage in half-light.” The play’s narrator is named after an important theatrical crew member: the Stage Manager. This crucial character has the power to communicate directly to the audience, but can also interact with the characters.
“I am excited to perform on stage for the first time in nearly 40 years,” said former high school and middle school theatre teacher Mark Dressler. “I am especially thrilled to be under the direction of my former student, Celena DelPizzo-Howell, who performed in “Our Town” the last time I produced it at Laguna Beach High School.”
Tickets are on sale now at lbhs.booktix.com (students $12 / adults $17 / premium $22)
Production Dates:
Nov. 1, 2 at 7 p.m.
Nov. 3 at 2:30 p.m.
Location:
LBHS Artists Theatre
625 Park Avenue, Laguna Beach
LBUSD Seeks Input for District Planning
The Laguna Beach Unified School District is using an online platform called Thoughtexchange, to gather community feedback to inform the development of the district’s three-year Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP). The district’s latest “Exchange” is online now, and will be open through Wednesday, Nov. 13, at 8 p.m. The district is asking students, staff, and families to share thoughts regarding the programs and services offered by the district to serve all students.
The LCAP is part of California’s Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF), established in 2014. It describes how school districts intend to meet annual goals for all students, with specific activities to address state and local priorities.
“The LCAP is developed with the input of the Laguna Beach school community and it serves as a touchstone by which we guide and execute our efforts to educate all students,” said Dr. Jason Viloria, superintendent of schools. “Asking an open-ended question allows us to get a sense of the shared values and priorities of our community. The feedback will help chart a course for the district through to 2022, and it is important to me that everyone affected by the decisions made in our district has an opportunity to share their thoughts.”
An exchange has three steps: participants can share their thoughts on open-ended questions, read thoughts shared by others and rate each one out of five stars, and discover what matters to the group by exploring the thoughts and how they were rated. Thoughts and ratings are public, but names and email addresses of participants are not shared. To learn more about the Thoughtexchange platform, visit www.thoughtexchange.com.
