Actors from the next-door Pendragon Theatre were rehearsing the third act of Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town” amid a cluster of graves and between bouts of rain. The play, a story about the everyday lives of the residents in the small American town of Grover’s Corners in the early 1900s, opens on Tuesday.

The third act of “Our Town” takes place in a cemetery, so with one in their back yard, Pendragon Executive Director Michael Aguirre said they thought it would be a good idea to do it on-scene. He said the caretakers of Pine Ridge Cemetery were “totally open to the idea,” and they’re working together to make sure people aren’t walking over graves and they are doing this in a respectful way.

The cast and crew hope the play, which focuses on what life and death mean, will honor those real life people buried there.

Director Jesse Jou said since a lot of the audience will come from Saranac Lake itself, he said they’ll likely know the cemetery well. He knows there is lots of town pride there, and he believes the audience will be able to connect the themes of the play with their own lives in a special way.

Kate Ortiz rehearses “Our Town” in Pine Ridge Cemetery behind Pendragon Theatre on Thursday. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

Kelly McCarty, who plays Emily Webb, said she is a spiritual person, enough to feel the “palpable” energy of the spirits of the dead buried around them.

She described the experience of performing in a graveyard as “intense and beautiful.” The show, to her, is about observing the simultaneous beauty in the smallness of relationships and the entirety of life.

Tyler Nye plays The Stage Manager — the character, not the actual Pendragon stage manager, who is Courtney Knysch. His job is setting things up, literally and figuratively.

Nye said he’s always felt intimacy in Pendragon’s theater, and he feels it transferring outside, too, where the audience and the actors are immersed in the questions of what happens when you die and what happens to the people who are left behind.

He said there are themes of remembrance, respect and the past, but themes of eternity and “what’s to come,” too.

Tyler Nye rehearses “Our Town” in Pine Ridge Cemetery behind Pendragon Theatre on Thursday. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

Nye grew up in Keene. He moved back to the area during the coronavirus pandemic after living and working in New York City for years. He said the fictional town of Grover’s Corners share a lot of similarities, physically and spiritually, to Saranac Lake.

Jou said the third act is very emotional, even for the actors performing it, so they’ve been working on focusing on telling the story while not getting lost in the emotion.

McCarty said for her character, the first two acts are about being young and curious and all the people she cares about in her life, while the third act is about letting go of that and not being a part of their world anymore.

“Do we live because of death or live to live?” McCarty wonders.

Tickets cost $30 if purchased in advance and $25 for people 18 years old or younger. Tickets purchased on the day of the performance cost $35, and $30 for people 18 years old or younger.

Keelie Sheridan rehearses “Our Town” in Pine Ridge Cemetery behind Pendragon Theatre on Thursday. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

Shows on Aug. 15, 16, 17, 18, 22, 23, 24, 25 and 26 start at 6 p.m. and a matinee show on Aug. 20 starts at 2 p.m.

The final scene in the cemetery lasts between 30 and 40 minutes. There will be seating outside, or the option to stand. The outdoor location for the third act relies on weather. If there is rain or inclement weather, the play will stay indoors for the entirety of the performance.

The matinee performance on Aug. 20 will be performed entirely inside the theater and not go outdoors.

Kelly McCarty and Tyler Nye rehearse “Our Town” in Pine Ridge Cemetery behind Pendragon Theatre on Thursday. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)