For his Southwestern Michigan College directorial debut, Tucker Curtis of Edwardsburg chose timeless “Our Town” by Thornton Wilder.

The story of fictional Grover’s Corners, N.H., 1901-1913, through everyday lives of citizens earned the 1938 drama Pulitzer Prize.

There’s a wedding in the three-act play. The traditional couplet stating what a bride should wear — “something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue” — almost sums up his cast if you change blue to orange-and-black for Dowagiac Union High School senior Christianna Schommer (eccentric town gossip Mrs. Soames).

Curtis’s cast isn’t old, but seasoned with South Bend Civic Theatre veterans Laurisa LeSure (Stage Manager); Kate Banks (Mrs. Gibbs/costumer); and Sophia Korson (Mrs. Webb).

SMC actors include Romello Adjodha of Buchanan (Mr. Webb), last seen as Bernie Sanders in a mock debate; musical-performance major Elijah Ernsperger of Niles (Dr. Gibbs), who appeared in “Oklahoma” and “Little Mermaid”; music major Patrick Butler of New Buffalo (George); Brenna Williams of Elkhart (Emily); vocal-music major Sara Porter of Hastings; and Angela Rodriguez of Elkhart.

“I’m majoring in nursing, but might change to psychology or social work,” Rodriguez said.

“I relate to it as a small-town person wondering what I’m going to leave behind when I die. It’s eye-opening,” Porter said.

“I made a deal with my friend that if he auditioned for choir, I would audition for the play,” said Williams, studying social work. “I’ve been doing shows since 8.”

Real police officer Ryan Murray of Dowagiac plays milkman Howie Newsome. History major Jacob Kraus of St. Joseph portrays Constable Warren.

“I got into this senior year and heard SMC had a great theatre program. I was like, ‘Sold!’” Kraus said.

Murray acts at Beckwith Theatre. Previous turns on SMC’s stage have been confined to trombone in bands.

“I knew Stage Manager was a big role, but I had no idea how huge until I got my hands on the script,” said LeSure, a night hotel front desk worker. “I read Thornton Wilder in college, but Theophilus North (his 1973 autobiographical last novel), not Our Town.”

SMC presented Wilder’s “The Matchmaker” in 2014.

“I went to small private schools without theatre departments. I got into acting for a hobby,” said LeSure, from South Bend.

Korson, a South Bend resident from Fort Wayne, is a Gibson employee benefits service specialist. She graduated from St. Mary’s College in 2013 with a bachelor’s degree in theatre.

Korson, who appeared in May’s “Closer” at Beckwith, stage managed “The Secret Garden” at St. Mary’s in 2012.

“Our theatre caught fire in the props area the Sunday before we opened,” she winced. “The daily breakfast routine brings back my childhood, with Mom yelling to get out of bed,” as she does her “daughter,” Williams. “It’s our everyday lives. Falling in love. And we all experience death at some point.”

Butler, William M. White Hall resident assistant, may teach elementary music. “I’m really good working with kids,” he said. “I’ve never done a show here. I did musical theatre but stopped. I came to the audition with Romello to support him.”

“I’ve only been in three shows, all in four months,” Adjodha said, including “Little Mermaid.”

The communications major and Select Voices singer discovered his arts aptitude at SMC.

“I played video games. I never sang, danced or acted before,” Adjodha said. “I’m an infant. It’s so fun.”

Schommer, though youngest, is an SMC veteran dating to “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” children’s choir.

“I did boot camp, Dogwood camp and ‘Little Mermaid’ last summer,” Schommer said. “I’ll be doing our spring high school musical. I’m coming here for my associate degree, then transferring to Western for a double major in music education and vocal performance for opera, minoring in music therapy. This is my first play. I love reading books written in this era. I can relate to grief because I lost my mom when I was 13.”

“I’ve never done anything at SMC,” Banks said. “This facility is absolutely beautiful. I lived in Chicago a lot of years, then I’m driving up through all these cornfields. In my undergraduate experience at Notre Dame I had some costume training, then went to Northwestern for a theatre master’s degree, apprenticing in the costume shop. I like costuming because I’m a natural shopper. I read ‘Our Town’ in high school and college, but what attracted me was going through a really hard time trying to get pregnant. My mother got in an Osher program for retirees in northern Virginia, where I grew up, reading the same works as college students with less homework.

“She sent me Emily’s line from ‘Our Town’ about living in the moment instead of worrying about the past and feeling anxiety about the future. This play speaks to me because that’s the key to happiness. We all go through grief in different forms.”

“It’s a timeless American classic and a challenge that’s well-within reach,” Curtis said, “a good exercise in character arcs and stagecraft. I’ve got a soft spot in my heart because I did it in high school.”