While many plays lend a heavy hand to the collective emotions of the audience, interpretations are often left for the individual viewer to decide.

In UpStage Left’s production of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town, however — which was performed at Godric Grove in Elings Park — the opposite was very much true.

As if the musings of the townspeople lacked a distinctly crafted message, the witty but ever-reverent commentary of the Stage Managers (Albee Rothman and Emma Steinkellner) artfully guided the attentions of the audience to the most crucial matters.

The stellar young cast — from local high school and college-level productions such as Rent, 1776 and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee — breathed new life into Wilder’s timeless drama, peppering it with beautifully orchestrated, era-appropriate songs such as “When the Saints Go Marching In” and “Let Me Call You Sweetheart.”

Directed by Emmy, Golden Globe and Indy winner — as well as recent Tony nominee — Cheri Steinkellner, Our Town is a testament to the lives of common people at the beginning of the 20th century. While countless historians witness the grand ambitions of a few people, Our Town takes a closer look at the rich history of the mundane.

As shown by Emily Webb’s famous third act speech delivered from the hereafter, the mundane — ticking clocks, coffee, new-ironed dresses — is proof not only of the existence of human life, but of its small and precious validity.

Unlike documents such as the Treaty of Versailles, these familiar objects have the power to articulate intangible truths about growing up, falling in love, getting married, parenting children — and later on — experiencing regrets, suffering losses, growing old, and of course, dying.

It sounds like an ambitious plot for young actors with their whole lives ahead of them, but youth imbued the dialogue — some of which was outmoded — with fresh references and updated phrasing.

From Simon Stimson’s walking-dead alcoholism (Cameron Wells) to Mrs. Gibbs’ sweet pipe dreams (Allison Lewis) and George Gibbs’ adolescent buoyancy (Kevin Herald), each performance was surprisingly and pleasantly nuanced, never allowing a small-town persona to overcome a big-hearted character.

The play clearly inspired the setting: the actors easily traded Godric Grove for Grover’s Corners and brought the audience along with only a few chairs and the power of their voices.

In the program notes, the director encouraged the audience to take in the Santa Barbara sunset, the cool breeze and the city below the mountainside. In doing so, heads nodded and murmured in agreement with Wilder’s famous words: “Oh, earth, you’re too wonderful for anybody to realize you.”

Click here for more information on UpStage Left.

— Noozhawk intern Kelly Nakashima can be reached at knakashima@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.