The story follows the small town of Grover's Corners through three acts: "Daily Life," "Love and Marriage," and "Death and Eternity." We watch the Webb and Gibbs families as their children fall in love, marry, and eventually — in one of the most famous scenes in American theatre—die.
| Stage Manager | The host of the play and the dramatic equivalent of an omniscient narrator. The Stage Manager exercises control over the action of the play, cueing the other characters, interrupting their scenes with his own interjections, and informing the audience of events and objects that we cannot see. Although referred to only as Stage Manager and not by a name, he occasionally assumes other roles, such as an old woman, a druggist and a minister. |
| George Gibbs | Dr. and Mrs. Gibbs’s son. A decent, upstanding young man, George is a high school baseball star who plans to attend the State Agricultural School after high school. His courtship of Emily Webb and eventual marriage to her is central to the play’s limited narrative action. |
| Emily Webb | Mr. and Mrs. Webb’s daughter and Wally’s older sister. Emily is George’s schoolmate and next-door neighbor, then his fiancée, and later his wife. She is an excellent student and a conscientious daughter. After dying in childbirth, Emily joins the group of dead souls in the local cemetery and attempts to return to the world of the living. |
| Dr. Gibbs | George’s father and the town doctor. Dr. Gibbs is also a Civil War expert. He and his family are neighbors to the Webbs. |
| Mrs. Gibbs | George’s mother and Dr. Gibbs’ wife. Mrs. Gibbs’ desire to visit Paris — a wish that is never fulfilled — suggests the importance of seizing the opportunities life presents, rather than waiting for things to happen. |
| Mr. Webb | Emily’s father and the publisher and editor of the Grover’s Corners Sentinel. |
| Mrs. Webb | Emily’s mother and Mr. Webb’s wife. At first a no-nonsense woman who does not cry on the morning of her daughter’s marriage, Mrs. Webb later shows her innocent and caring nature, worrying during the wedding that she has not taught her daughter enough about marriage. |
| Mrs. Soames | A gossipy woman who sings in the choir along with Mrs. Webb and Mrs. Gibbs. Mrs. Soames appears in the group of dead souls in Act 3. |
| Simon Stimson | The choirmaster, whose alcoholism and undisclosed “troubles” have been the subject of gossip in Grover’s Corners for quite some time. He is perhaps most notable for his short speech in Act 3, when he says that human existence is nothing but “ignorance and blindness.” |
| Rebecca Gibbs | George’s younger sister. Rebecca’s role is minor, but she does have one very significant scene with her brother. |
| Wally Webb | Emily’s younger brother. Wally is a minor figure, but he turns up in Act 3 among the group of dead souls. Wally dies young, the result of a burst appendix on a Boy Scout trip. |
| Howie Newsome | The local milkman. Howie reappears during every morning scene — once each in acts one, two and three. |
| Joe Crowell Jr. | The paperboy. Joe’s routine of delivering papers to the same people each morning emphasizes the sameness of daily life in Grover’s Corners. |
| Si Crowell | Joe’s younger brother, also a paperboy. |
| Professor Willard | A professor at the State University who gives the audience a report on Grover’s Corners. Professor Willard appears once and then disappears. He interacts with the audience and to inform theatergoers of the specifics of life in Grover’s Corners. |
| Constable Warren | A local police officer who keeps a watchful eye over the community. His personal knowledge of and favor with the town’s citizens bespeaks the close-knit nature of the town. |
| Sam Craig | Emily Webb’s cousin, who has left Grover’s Corners to travel west, but returns for her funeral in Act 3. Though originally from the town, Sam has the air of an outsider. |
| Joe Stoddard | The town undertaker. Joe prepares Emily’s grave and remarks on how sad it is to bury young people. |
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