The frigid, unforgiving wind screams through the trees as darkness sets on campus. In the shadow of the Fogler Library sits the Edgar Allan Cyrus Pavillion Theater. The former sheep stable turned playhouse looks asleep, with not a sound to be heard from out in the winter cold. Yet from within, behind its closed doors and curtains, lies a scene that is very much alive.

On stage, a warm 1950′s style home is carefully set up, while the director, actors and crew from the Orono Community Theatre and Ten Bucks Theatre are ready backstage for their chance to give their performance of  “Death of a Salesman” that they’ve been working on for the past couple of months.

The venue is small, with room for only 90 people to sit, and the stage is close. This is something director and University of Maine alumni, Julie Lisnet cherishes about the Pavillion Theater.

“I love it because it’s so intimate,” Lisnet said. “I love blurring the lines between the audience and the actors, and this theater is fantastic for it. It brings the audience into (the show) so much more.”

As members of the audience slowly trickle in, collecting programs and finding the way to their seats, talk can be heard about the play’s subject matter. Many have yet to see a performance of this play and questions surrounding its plot are discussed in the remaining minutes before showtime.

“Death of a Salesman” is widely considered to be American playwright Arthur Miller’s greatest work, as it was the winner of the 1949 Pulitzer Prize. Despite being written 66 years ago, it’s still considered to be a play that offers commentary on today’s social class, as well as the complexities of family expectation. Julie Lisnet thinks so as well.

“It’s timeless,” Lisnet said, “We have the same economic problems and types of interpersonal relationships. There’s nothing about this show that doesn’t play to our time.”

The conflict between family is something that “Death of a Salesman” delves in deepest however, as the aging father and struggling traveling salesman, Willy Loman struggles to reconnect with his estranged sons Biff and Happy, while his wife Linda tries to hold everything — including the family — together. Linda, played by Orono Community Theatre’sartistic director, Sandy Cyrus, is a character Cyrus has grown to love through her experience with this play.

“I have come to really respect and admire this character that I’m playing,” Cyrus said. “She’s a 1950′s housewife, so you have to put [her character] in that cultural setting. She’s portrayed as super supportive and Willy kind of abuses her verbally, but she loves him anyway. So on the surface, it looks like she’s not a strong person, but Miller wrote her some really beautiful scenes where she lays it on the table for her two sons and we find out that (she’s) nobody’s fool.”

Despite the play’s heavy dramatic qualities, it also has it’s share of light hearted moments that allow some comedic relief throughout the plot.

“I think any playwright who writes a serious play, has got to put those lighter moments in, otherwise, it’s a long two plus hours in the theater if you’re sitting here and it’s nothing but gloom and doom,” Lisnet said. With all the emotions and laughter that are experienced within the Pavillion during “Death of a Salesman,” one overarching theme is hoped to be achieved after all is said and done.

“I think a good message [for this play] is appreciate the things and people you have in the moment, because who knows how long you’ll have them around,” lead actor and portrayer of Biff, Nathan Roach said.

This is a message the audience received with appreciation. With some tearful smiles and an occasional whistle, the cast’s curtain call was greeted by a standing ovation. About 30 minutes after the final line of the play, many in the audience stayed to congratulate and talk with the actors and crew, before slowly filing their way out back into the winter weather that awaited them.

Through all the hard work that the men and women involved with this production have gone through, Lisnet has but one thing to say to her audiences. “A huge responsibility of any theater is to make sure that the classics stay alive, and I think it’s pretty incredible that two community theaters have gotten together to bring the play to this area,” Lisnet concludes. “I really hope people take great advantage and come out in droves, because the last time this play was done here on this campus, it was 1976.”

“Death of a Salesman” will be playing Jan. 17, 22, 23 and 24 at 7 p.m., and has two afternoon showings on Jan. 18 and 25 at 2 p.m. Visit www.tenbuckstheatre.org for more information on tickets.