Craig Wright’s The Pavilion is set in Pine City, Minn., where the class of 1991 is celebrating its 20th reunion. Wright’s play, first produced in 2000, resonates with echoes of Thornton Wilder's Our Town, about the citizens of Grover's Corners, a tiny New Hampshire town. Both towns are fictional — and universal. The latter point is brought to our attention immediately by a narrator (played by Jeffrey Kuhn). He's a descendant of Wilder’s Stage Manager, full of philosophy, poetry and wry observations.
"This is a play about time," he explains, meaning the impact of time's inevitable stream, heedless of individual events no matter the trauma they have inflicted on people like former high school sweethearts Peter (Jay Stratton) and Kari (Anney Giobbe), pulled apart by an unplanned pregnancy and parental pressure.
The Pavilion, presented by Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, continues through June 12. Go here to read Rick Pender's full review.
