Monadnock Ledger-Transcript
Published: 7/20/2018 4:34:15 PM
The Third International Thornton Wilder Conference that took place last week at the Monadnock Center for History and Culture in Peterborough was a big success in terms of attendance, sightseeing and academic papers presented.
“I think the overwhelming consensus was that it was the most successful conference that we’ve ever had,” said Amanda Woods, The Wilder Family LLC Special Projects. “I think everyone felt at home, welcome and very comfortable in Peterborough. And we had all these incredible opportunities because we were there.”
The conference drew 75 full-attendees, mostly members of the academic community, with an additional 97 people showing up for events open to the community.
“Considering this is the first time that we opened it up to the public in anyway, we’re 100 percent better,” Woods said.
Being in Peterborough allowed conference attendees to visit the MacDowell Colony studio were Wilder wrote, The Peterborough Players where Wilder consulted on the Players’ first production of “Our Town” and to see the sites of Peterborough through Wilder’s eyes, including a cemetery Wilder likely drew inspiration from when writing “Our Town.”
“We were able to go and see the studio that he worked in and see the tombstones,” Woods said.
And while some debate whether or not Wilder’s best known work “Our Town” was based on Peterborough, Woods said to her it seems to be true.
“It would seem that he based ‘Our Town’ on his experience in Peterborough. Some people say that he didn’t, but I would like to think that he did. Everything kind of fell into place,” during her visit, Woods said.
Woods said the conference was also successful academically, saying what took place at the conference on an intellectual level was amazing.
To top it off the conference attended a night at the Peterborough Players to see a production of Wilder’s “The Skin of Our Teeth.”
“That evening was terrific. It was an excellent performance of ‘The Skin of Our Teeth’ and this is an audience that has seen hundreds of productions (of Wilder plays) and they were very impressed with the performance at the Players,” Woods said. “I really don’t know if we’re ever going to top this location for the next conference.”