This week “Our Town,” Thornton Wilder’s Pulitzer Prize winning masterpiece about life and love in small town America in the early 20th century opens at Napa Valley College.

The play, which debuted in New York in 1937, is set in the fictional New Hampshire town of Grover’s Corners. Focusing on the relationship between next-door neighbors George Gibbs and Emily Webb, we follow their lives as they grow up, fall in love and get married. Through their journey we come to understand and appreciate the universal and eternal wonder of life.

The central character, the Stage Manager, narrates. Speaking directly to the audience, he breaks down the theater’s traditional “fourth wall,” a ground-breaking approach in Wilder’s day. The play won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1938. Blithe innocence and joy are ascendant in the first two acts. The third act explores darker experience.

An extremely popular play, it has been adapted for film and television a number of times. The 1940 film starred William Holden as George; in a 2003 version Paul Newman portrayed the Stage Manager. It was also made into a television musical starring Frank Sinatra as the Stage Manager and a young Paul Newman and Eva Marie Saint. Other television adaptations include one in 1959, based on a revival with Art Carney as the Stage Manager; one in 1977 made with Hal Holbrook as the Stage Manager and a Lincoln Center production televised in 1989 with Spalding Gray in the role. A stage musical adaptation titled “Grover’s Corners” has been in development for years in New York. The show has even been made into an opera that premiered at the Indiana University Opera Theater last year.

In a real sense the play has been a victim of its own success. It has been performed as much or more than any modern drama by amateur theater groups and hence acquired a somewhat undeserved characterization as unsophisticated “high school” play.

In part this springs from the drama’s simple approach that extends to barebones staging. There is no set, only chairs, tables and a couple of stepladders. Actors pantomime all props. This stripped-down staging was the result of Wilder’s desire to cut away dross and leave only pure theater.

The NVC production is directed by professional Bay Area director Sharon Winegar, who recently directed “Romeo and Juliet” for the Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival. Her many other directing projects include “Arms and the Man,” “Night of the Iguana,” “Betrayal,” “Humble Boy,” “Long Day’s Journey into Night,” “My Way: A Musical Tribute to Frank Sinatra.” She has performed as an actor with companies throughout Northern California, as well as with the Maxim Gorky Theatre of Vladivostok, Russia.

“Don’t expect the same tired old version of ‘Our Town’ as Ms. Winegar has come up with an amazing concept … audiences will literally see this production brought to life before their very eyes” said Napa Valley College Artistic Director Jennifer King.

Winegar’s concept goes along with the spirit of the play.

“Wilder’s work always breaks down somewhere in the play and actors begin to talk to the audience,” said Winegar. “We extend that natural notion and pretend as if we are in rehearsal at the beginning and by adding official scenic and tech elements it turns into a production.”

This is Winegar’s first time directing “Our Town.”

“I’ve directed Wilder’s two other famous works, ‘The Skin of Our Teeth’ and ‘The Matchmaker,’ said Winegar. “This will make the trifecta.”

The cast includes students, community members, seasoned actors such as Paul Loomis, William Shea and Napa High School drama teacher Sharon Rogers, as well as two Napa Valley College faculty members, Agapito de la Garza and Mary Shea. Jay Rogers plays George, and Jillian Jones portrays Emily.

“It’s been so much fun,” said Sharon Rogers. “Frankly, ‘Our Town’ has never been one of my favorite plays.” Rogers, who didn’t audition for the show, was tapped to play Myrtle Webb, Emily’s mother. “Working with my son Jay has been a terrific experience.”

“Our Town” marks the first production in the newly remodeled college Little Theater. Patrons will enjoy new seating, new carpet and wall treatments, a new box office and restrooms. “We are ecstatic with the looks of the theater,” said King “and we cannot wait to share it with the public.”

The school’s new performing arts center is under construction on the north side of campus.

“Our Town” runs Oct. 12, 13, 19, 20 at 8 p.m. and Oct. 14 & 21 at 2 p.m. Ticket prices are $12 general admission and $10 for students and seniors. All seating is reserved. Reservations are recommended although tickets will be available at the door. To make a reservation and purchase tickets in advance, call the NVC Theater Box Office, 259-8077. Mastercard and VISA are accepted. Box Office hours are 1-4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. The Napa Valley College Little Theater is at 2277 Napa-Vallejo Highway, Bldg. 1200.