Many people look to theater for entertainment - for drama, comedy, fancy dress, and witty banter. What many people don't know, however, is that live theater helps us develop empathy and compassion for others. In a play's characters, we see ourselves, see each other, and see the world around us through different lenses. This is even more true when the characters are actually our friends and neighbors.
Theater Horizon (TH) - founded in 2005 - has become a beacon of arts and culture for the Norristown community. Its most recent project - Our Norristown - focuses on stories and storytelling within a small but important community that sits in the shadows of our nation's 5th largest city, Philadelphia. Theater Horizon describes Our Norristown this way:
"What emerges when members of a wildly diverse city tell a collective story? Our Norristown is a social practice theater work that uses Thornton Wilder’s classic play Our Town as a provocation and structural map to reconsider the nostalgic myth of homogenous small-town America, and revise our understanding of community in the 2020s."
This week, TH teased this new project with a virtual reading of the play's first act. Read by professional actors and community members, the first act captures both the hope and heartache that our Norristown community knows all too well. The lyrical writing - in English and Spanish - makes even the most tragic stories come alive with intense feeling.
The play is set to open this fall, and the One Book One Norristown team is excited to collaborate with Theater Horizon as we bring arts and culture to the forefront of Norristown life.
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