West Albany High School presents its fall play, “Our Town,” at 7:30 tonight and at 1:30 and 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, in the WAHS cafeteria.

“Our Town” is a three-act play, written by Thornton Wilder. It follows events in the lives of the Gibbs and Webb families at the turn of the 20th Century in a small New England town.

Thornton wrote the play devoid of any set or props, and instead uses the stage manager role as a go-between for the town and the audience.

Director Cate Caffarella chose to stay with the script directions for “Our Town,” but incorporated a few prop items. Those include two tables, chairs and a trellis to indicate the doors to the Gibbs and Webb families’ homes.

“What I think is ironic is the theme of the show is to pay attention to the small things, and what we don’t have are the small things, the props,” Caffarella said.

In most plays, sets, props and background are used to give the audience as well as the actors a sense of time and space.

Since “Our Town” lacks traditional elements, Cafarella discussed extensively with the cast the themes of the play, the author and the characters. In addition, she took the cast outside the theater into a real-life environment to practice Act 3.

“I actually took them out to a cemetery and had them do the scene there to get the sense that it was peaceful; it was quiet,” Cafarella said.

Tickets are $5 at the door; tickets are $3 for middle school students and seniors at the 1:30 p.m. matinees only.

Heather Crabtree can be reached at 812-6090 or heather.crabtree@lee.net.