“This Town” is often uttered with #sigh in Washington. Shakespeare Theatre plans to subvert the hashtag this spring by staging Thornton Wilder’s classic play Our Town using only actors who call the DMV home. Under founding artistic director Michael Kahn, the theater had a reputation for sometimes casting performers from London and New York in roles locals could have ably filled. Our Town represents an olive branch from new artistic director Simon Godwin. Directed by longtime associate artistic director Alan Paul, the production supplies local audiences with a chance to appreciate our best in one of America’s most revered dramas. Yet the performers onstage will hardly be conventional for turn-of-the-20th-century New Hampshire. Holly Twyford stars as the stage manager, presiding over the town of Grover’s Corners in a role that typically goes to an older man. Neighboring sweethearts Emily Webb and George Gibbs (Chinna Palmer and Jake Loewenthal, respectively) are a multiracial couple. Other notable denizens include Sarah C. Marshall as Mrs. Soames, the always funny Tom Story as Simon Stimson, and Suzanne Richard, who uses a wheelchair, as Joe Stoddard. May 12 to June 11 at Shakespeare Theatre Company, 610 F St. NW, $49–$120.
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