‘Our Town’ a Community Effort

The community of Grover’s Corners, N.H., celebrated in Thornton Wilder’s play “Our Town,” will come to life once more on the stage at Eagle Rock High School Auditorium tonight, Friday and Saturday.

The ever-popular story, telling of the courtship, marriage and lives of two simple people in small-town America, is one of the plays most often performed on high school stages.

But this is not your garden variety high school production--the Eagle Rock community is getting into the act.

The local Kiwanis and Rotary are donating paint and printing supplies. The Eagle Rock Assn. is sponsoring a video of the production. Eagle Rock High School graduate Eric Warren, who works for Lorimar Productions, set up the lights. Tom Butsch, a parent of an Eagle Rock student and a designer for Disney Imagineering, designed the set.

Some parents will take local elementary school students to the play, and others will turn intermission refreshments into a wedding reception. Students in the school’s photography program will present a slide show of their community.

“There is no formal community here in Eagle Rock; we’re part of L.A., yet there’s community up the yin yang,” said Barbara Goodwin, theater department head at the high school and play director. “Last year, we had 3,000 people in our auditorium.” She expects to do it again, especially since Grover’s Corners seems a lot like Eagle Rock.

Curtain for “Our Town” is at 7:30 p.m. Eagle Rock High School is at 1750 Yosemite Drive. Tickets are $5.