The Skin of Our Teeth by Thornton Wilder depicts a family avoiding one disaster after another. With their teeth they will conquer ice, floods and war. The main characters of this play are George and Maggie Antrobus, their two children, Henry and Gladys, and Sabina, who appears as the family servant in the first and third acts, as well as a seductive beauty queen in the second act . Skin of Our Teeth takes place at the Antrobus House in Excelsior, New Jersey; and the Atlantic City Boardwalk. I chose this piece mainly because I like the way Thornton Wilder chose to break the fourth wall. The fourth wall is the space that separates an artist or performance from an audience. The Skin of Our Teeth doesn't just break the fourth wall, it boldly subverts it, with the actor's character occasionally breaking to complain about the script in a play within a play. Technically, The Skin of Our Teeth is a dual narrative: the story of the Antrobus family in the play and the story of a theater company that puts on the play. I find it fascinating how the actors break the actors' fourth wall by speaking directly to the audience, while the frustrated stage manager tries to hold the show together. Breaking the fourth wall allows the audience to feel a part of the play and become more attuned to the show. I believe that Thornton Wilder's purpose in writing this play is to show in a comical and serious way that humanity has always been on alert. on the brink of disaster and probably always will be. In writing this play, Wilder wanted to represent the continuing struggles of the human race. He wanted to focus on the situation of a family subjected to successive devastation while remaining united. In this play, the Antrobus family goes through ice, floods,... middle of paper...... more tragic, but the determination that disaster can always be overcome is what I think the audience should remember from this room. I was to direct this play, each act would adopt a different aesthetic style that reflects relevant themes. The first act, which depicts a suburban version of the Ice Age, would resemble a '50s sitcom. It would be complete with black and white lighting, and I imagine a laugh track. In the second act, the apocalypse arrived in the disguise of an '80s sitcom. However, adding a brightly colored Las Vegas style would hide the essential chaos. The third and final act depicts a deserted post-war landscape. By completely moving away from the TV show format, I would like to strip away the deception of pop culture to reveal the family underneath. The main challenge of directing this play would be to change the maximum requirements to a minimum..