Majestic Rep Adds Immersive Twist to ‘Our Town’ (Q&A)

by Kathryn Yu
Kathryn Yu
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April 8, 2019
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4 min read

Jaded theatre fans may better associate the world of Grover’s Corners with high school or community theatre productions whose quality varies widely; and you might be tempted to pass over new stagings of Our Town, seeing it as an altogether too-familiar and somewhat old-fashioned tale. But this spring, Las Vegas’s Majestic Repertory aims to breath new life into this much-staged classic, as well as serving to introduce the elements of immersive theatre to uninitiated Las Vegas theatre-goers in their production.

We spoke to Majestic Rep Artistic Director Troy Heard over email to learn more.

No Proscenium (NP): Can you tell us a little about yourself and your background in the immersive arts?

Troy Heard (TH): I’m Artistic Director of Majestic Repertory Theatre in Las Vegas, NV. Our immersive shows this season featured a large scale Measure for Measure where audiences explored 1970s Lost Wages, and a family Christmas party that went to hell in Krampus.

Oh, me? I’m a Georgia native, graduate of Columbus State University, with a MFA from Savannah College of Art and Design. I was on my way to an internship in LA when my truck broke down in Sin City, so I’ve made this an artistic home for the past eight years. Some of my earlier immersive projects include JONESTOWN, an ensemble-devised piece using the original FBI files that turned a North Vegas ranch into Jim Jones’ Guyana settlement, complete with Flavorade; and MOTEL, a modern adaptation of La Ronde that took audiences through the rooms of a seedy downtown motel as they experienced various trysts.

NP: What, in a nutshell, is this project about?

TH: Our Town is one of the most widely produced plays in the American canon, and sometimes the most misunderstood as a dull “chestnut.” Our production gets to the heart of the story while bringing the audience intimately into the world of Grover’s Corners.

NP: What inspired you to make an immersive version of Our Town? How will this be different than the typical production of this play?

TH: Majestic Rep’s productions tend to be political. We’d just finished an entire season of shows focused on revolutions and were in the middle of planning our current season when the October 2nd shooting at the Route 61 concert occured. Las Vegas is known as a party city, but the locals really have huge hearts and turned out at every opportunity to volunteer their services to help the cause. So instead of another political piece, I wanted to find a show that would bring the our city into a room for a life affirming experience.

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The original 1938 production of Our Town was groundbreaking. Audiences walked into the theater to see the curtain open on a bare stage. An actor, credited as “Stage Manager,” came out to the apron and said, “This play is called Our Town.”

For crowds that were used to elaborate scenery and realistic action, this was a meta-mind blower. We’re taking this one step further by eliminating the “stage” altogether, and putting the audience into a town hall complete with Grover’s Corners artifacts and artwork.

Befitting the New England setting, this play is traditionally cast with white actors. To reflect the diverse Las Vegas community, however, our cast is primarily performers of color.

NP: How is the setting, food, and drink incorporated into the Our Town experience?

TH: The audience sits family-style with the cast while enjoying a “church lady”-themed catered pot luck supper, with vegan options.

NP: How is the audience incorporated into the work?

TH: Although this isn’t one of our more interactive works, the Stage Manager is a conduit between the action of the play and the audience. He guides us through the action using direct address. So in our intimate setting, the audience becomes mute witness to the small acts that make up a lifetime.

NP: How are you designing around audience agency, consent, and safety?

TH: This Our Town is Immersive for Beginners. Although you’re in close proximity with the cast as the action surrounds you, the experience isn’t designed to make the audience uncomfortable. In some ways, this is a classic staging — but we are heightening the moments for engagement that Wilder suggests in the text and are usually glossed over.

NP: What do you hope participants take away from the experience?

TH: Our Town has a beautiful universality. It’s not simply a tale of a white Protestant village in the early 1900s. Regardless of cultural heritage, audiences will identify the timelessness of parent-child relations, and the awkwardness of first love. We also hope this will become a gateway production for Vegas audiences not accustomed to non-traditional stagings. Our 2019–20 season will feature several fully immersive and interactive productions, so this is a good way for newbies to break away from the traditional theatre experience.