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Plot

The Los Angeles community of Compton has become infamous thanks to news reports and rap music lyrics that have portrayed it as an African-American neighborhood brought to the edge of destruction by corruption and black-on-black crime. In 2003, a handful of students and teachers at Compton's Dominguez High School decided to do something that hadn't happened at the school in more than 20 years -- put on a play. When it became obvious that the financially strapped school (which had recently canceled its football program) couldn't provide a budget for sets or costumes, the students did what money-conscious high-school theater departments have been doing for decades -- they staged Thornton Wilder's Our Town, a drama commonly performed without the use of sets or large props. But what would Wilder's allegorical story of life in a small turn-of-the-century Midwestern hamlet mean to kids in Compton? And would the inexperienced students and faculty be able to bring it off? OT: Our Town is a documentary which looks at Dominguez High's brave experiment and the people who struggled to make it happen.
MPAA Rating:
Not Yet Rated
Genre(s):
Art and Experimental,Documentary,Special Interest
Run Time:
77min.
Theatrical Release Date:
09/27/2002
DVD Release Date:
04/05/2005
Distributor(s):
Film Movement
Director(s):
Themes:
Inner City Blues,Teachers and Students
Tone:
Bittersweet,Intimate,Literate,Matter-of-Fact,Poignant
Keywords:
against-all-odds,drama-teacher,ghetto,high-school,play [drama],rehearsal,teenagers,theater
Country of Origin:
USA - Limited (08-15-2003)
Language:
English