Our Town/Noah Kahan
Wilder’s play is coming to the Chandler, with a more contemporary vibe
It’s the Our Town you know and love, but different. Gone are the dowdy period costumes that sometimes mire the play in the long-ago years of the last century. Under the direction of Ben Rapson, who also plays the Stage Manager, this is a more modern and Vermont-centric take on the New England classic. It’s coming to the Chandler Center for the Arts in Randolph, VT on February 28 and will run through March 9, 2025. Rehearsals are already afoot, with 40 or so actors and musicians swarming around the stage, many of them from the Randolph area.
The big news about this production is the music of Noah Kahan, young Upper Valley-born and raised musician who has rocketed to stardom, including as a musical guest on Saturday Night Live and as a 2023 Grammy nominee for Best New Artist. Three of Kahan’s songs—performed by a live American roots-ish band—will be incorporated into this production of Our Town, as well as some “echoes” of his work which are infused throughout the play. (But, Rapson cautions, it’s not a musical.)
The artistic marriage of playwright Thornton Wilder and songwriter/musician Kahan seemed more than apt to Rapson. Kahan’s music is a way to connect Wilder’s work to a more modern audience. But more so, Rapson saw similarities in how both Wilder and Kahan use their words to express some universal small-town truths. He explained:
“Noah’s songwriting speaks to so many of us in Randolph and the rest of Vermont, in the same way that Thornton Wilder’s words perfectly capture something eternal about being a human with a northern attitude. We’re really taking that Wilder-Kahan kismet and running with it. And I’m thrilled to say we received Noah’s personal blessing to cover his songs in our show — a truly serendipitous benefit to the nature of community in our state.”
Rapson himself appears to be living the small town experience that he is trying to capture for the stage. He left Seattle for Vermont in 2018, and recently became a homeowner in Randolph, a town replete with art and makers and civic engagement. Randolph still has a printed newspaper, the White River Valley Herald; Rapson recently helped to organize a celebration of the paper’s 150th anniversary. And then there is the Chandler Center itself, with a beautifully renovated 575-seat music hall, its presence a testament to the importance of the performing arts in a town whose population hovers at just over 4800 residents.
If I get too close
And I'm not how you hoped
Forgive my northern attitude
Oh, I was raised out in the cold
If the sun don't rise
'Til the summertime
Forgive my northern attitude
Oh, I was raised on little light.
—Excerpt from “Northern Attitude” by Noah Kahan
In addition to the play, audiences are invited to explore the Smithsonian Institution’s Crossroads: Change in Rural America exhibit in the Chandler art gallery from February 8th until March 23rd. Tickets and more information about Our Town can be found here.
Photo, center: Rob Marois, Hayley Sherman, Caleb Spring, and Rita Champion - Photo by Jess Rhoades. Art, top, courtesy of Chandler Center for the Arts, designed by Eric Dickerson.
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And in case you are wondering . . . Susan B. Apel shuttered a lifelong career as a law professor to continue an interest (since kindergarten) in writing. Her freelance business, The Next Word, includes literary and feature writing; her work has appeared in a variety of lit mags and other publications including Art New England, The Woven Tale Press, The Arts Fuse, and Persimmon Tree. She connects with her neighbors through Artful, her blog about arts and culture in the Upper Valley. She’s in love with the written word.