by Thornton Wilder

After attending Yale University, Thornton Wilder (1897-1975) became a novelist and a writer of unconventional plays that engage the audience by addressing them directly, by not supplying props or scenery, and by transposing elements from one time period into another. He set his play Our Town in Grover's Corners, a fictional rural community that was distant and detached from the growth of industry and commerce occurring in urban New England at the turn of the century. The action takes place before World War I, when there was no apparent threat of global conflict and warfare. The setting allows Wilder's characters to focus on their immediate surroundings without having to contend with all the sociopolitical distractions in urban environments of the time.

Events in History at the Time the Play Takes Place

Invention and growth. Given the rampant progress urban America was undergoing at...