Gainesville Community Playhouse (GCP) will present Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town” from May 22 through June 7.
Performance dates for “Our Town” are May 22 through June 7, 2026, with performances on Thursdays through Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. A public dress rehearsal will be held on Thursday, May 21.
For more information and ticket details, visit Gainesville Community Playhouse, located at 4039 NW 16th Blvd. in Gainesville.
Founded as the Gainesville Little Theater Association on June 17, 1927, Gainesville Community Playhouse is recognized as Florida’s oldest community theater. The production will serve as the final mainstage show before GCP launches its 100th season later this summer.
The production also marks GCP’s third staging of “Our Town,” following earlier productions in 1961 and 1998. It will be the first presentation of the play on the company’s current stage, constructed in 2006 at the Vam York Theater.
Directed by a longtime GCP actor and volunteer, Erin Pearson Silverman, making his directorial debut after 34 years with the organization, the production follows playwright Thornton Wilder’s original vision of a minimalist stage presentation featuring mimed props and no traditional scenery.
The cast includes performers ranging from high school students to retirees and features several of Gainesville’s best-known community theater actors.
Originally written by Wilder in 1938 between the Great Depression and World War II, “Our Town” remains one of the most frequently staged American plays worldwide nearly 90 years after its debut. The production arrives amid renewed cultural interest in Wilder’s work as well as recent television adaptations and references, introducing the play to new audiences.
“Our Town is often remembered as nostalgic. It isn’t,” said Silverman in the press release. “Wilder wrote it during a deeply uncertain time in American history, and nearly 90 years later, audiences still connect with the questions the play asks about community, mortality, memory, and everyday life. This has been a terrific production to direct, and we’re excited to share it with Gainesville audiences.”