“Does anyone ever realize life while they live it…every, every minute?” says Emily Webb near the end of the American theater classic Our Town by Thornton Wilder.
The hundreds gathered in the auditorium at Columbia High School on November 16 to see a production of the play, performed by members of the South Orange and Maplewood community, were certainly living every, every minute as they watched the drama unfold.
“Our Towns Read Our Town” was conceived by director Michelle Federer Butz as a fundraiser for the Achieve Foundation, which provides an annual Maker Madness STEM fair, a free volunteer tutoring program, and tens of thousands of dollars in grants to dozen of teachers in the school district every year for classroom enrichment.
Norbert Leo Butz Photo by Marilyn Lehren.
Federer Butz’ husband — two-time Tony Award-winning actor Norbert Leo Butz — dazzled as the Stage Manager. And his young co-stars matched his game: CHS alums Marygrace Rumley as Emily Webb and Quincy Hampton as George Gibbs brought audience members and fellow cast mates (we saw you, Laura Kai Chen/Mrs. Gibbs!) to tears.
Other members of the cast included more locals with Broadway credentials but also other local “celebrities.”
“We have people who trained as actors and they could be in it, people who are currently training to be actors, they could be in it,” said Federer Butz, describing the creative brainstorming that generated the event. “And then we could also have Julie Pauly of the Able Baker — and that’s when people lit up!”
“So I said, what if we got a librarian and we got real teachers? What if we got students? And what if we got a former mayor and what if we got a guy who fixed my bathroom? And that’s how this came to be. And theater magic happened. And we have a play. We have a play to show you. And I’m so excited!”
Quincy Hampton and Marygrace Rumley. Photo by Marilyn Lehren.
See the full cast here.
Brad Schenker, the board president for the Achieve Foundation told the audience, “Today’s event is right in Achieve’s wheelhouse. Building community is one of our strategic priorities. Our mission is to promote high quality education that prepares South Orange-Maplewood School District students for the future. We do this by championing excellence, addressing equity, building community, and delivering solutions.”
He noted that, last year, Achieve provided 50 grants and over $83,000 to educators. This year Achieve had funded 41 grants, equaling nearly $62,000. “And this includes four projects which we partially funded, which we now put out to our direct funding campaign for the community to help complete that funding.”
Schenker directed community members to “find information about those projects and those grants on our website” at achievefoundation.org.
“Yes, it’s a fundraiser for Achieve,” said Achieve Executive Director Eileen Collins Neri, concluding the introductions. “But it’s really a celebration of small moments in life, small towns and community. And I think this is a pretty special one. I’m biased because I’ve been here for more years than I care to admit. More than 50, I’ll say. And I’m a true townie, grew up here, so I’m very biased. But I think you all are here because you agree that this is a really special place and you know how lucky we are to live here and how lucky we’re to call all of these people our neighbors.”
Two hours later, Marygrace Rumley delivered the line: “Does anyone ever realize life while they live it…every, every minute?”
“No,” replied Butz as the Stage Manager. “Saints and poets maybe…they do some.”
Full cast of “Our Towns Read Our Town.” Photo by Mary Barr Mann.
