The Nicholls Players will perform Thornton Wilder’s three act play “Our Town” Thursday through Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday at 3:00 p.m. in Talbot Theater. The admission will be $5 for students and $10 for faculty and the general public. “Our Town” is the latest in a series of plays by the Nicholls Players. The most recent productions were “Dracula” in Fall 2000, “You Can’t Take It With You” in Spring 2001, and “Dark of the Moon” in Fall 2001.

The play includes about 23 Nicholls students and is a classic that was first performed in 1938. The play won Wilder a Pulitzer Prize and critical acclaim, yet left audiences shocked and confused.

“The techniques first used in ‘Our Town’ were narration of a stage manager, a bare stage and the use of pantomime. Today everyone who sees is it is used to these techniques, but when audiences first saw it they were surprised, and a number of them were disappointed,” Stanely Coleman, director of the play and instructor of the performing arts, said.

The Nicholls production follows Wilder’s play faithfully, with minor changes such as a cyclorama that is utilized in order to set different moods for the backdrop.

Coleman said that the reason the decision was made to use “Our Town” for the current production was the underlying message and relevance of the play.

“What Wilder was saying is that we need to seize the moment. Time is very short. I think he is also saying that very often we go through life without taking the time to enjoy it. He thought that the ordinary and trivial things in our lives are very important and should not be ignored,” he said.

Coleman said that Wilder responded to the events around him and this was reflected in his work.

“Wilder believed in democracy. He also felt that religious life was the only genuine life, even though he was suspicious of organized religion,” he said.