Thursday night the repertory returned to the stage world of Boston. For the opening of "Our Town" was the coming-of-age of the New England Repertory company, which after three years of up-hill struggle has realized its ambition of a permanent playhouse for its list names of eleven authors, among whom are O'Neill, Anderson, Barrie, Shakespeare . . . and Wilder.

Thonnton Wilder's informal, unconventional "Our Town" is particularly adapted to the atmosphere of the remodeled old Barn Theatre. The simplicity of the play fits the simplicity of the Playhouse. There is no scenery except two arched trellises, pushed onto the stage as director Edwin Burr Pettet said, "for those who think they have to have scenery." A few chairs, two tables, a couple of ladders and a board are the frugal furnishings, images created in the minds of the audience by Mr. Petter's homely descriptions and the pantomime of the rest of the cast build the streets, houses, gardens and churches of Grover's Corners more effectively than could an M. G. M. location.

Not only in its setting but also in the unfolding of its home-spun story. "Our Town" reveals itself as if written to order for the Repertory. Director Pettet is the perfect Stage Manager. He doesn't have to act; his part is the one he lives and works in his capacity as leader of the company. With corncob pipe in mouth and a copy of the play in hand, he takes the audience by the arm and points out the simple charms of Grover's Corners. He introduce the Gibb's and the Webbs; Joe Crowell, the paper boy; Howie Newsome, the milkman. He shows you Simno Stimson, the drunkard organist, whose life is like a pathetic symphony with a tragic coda. These are the common folk of "Our Town," brought to life you by a sincere and enthusiastic cast. You may find faults; there are moments when Rowland Bishop's Dr.Gibbs is just a little over pompous; there are scenes where Virginia Thoms's Emily Webb tends to excessive bashfulness. But what is important is that this young group has caught the humanism, the joy, the pathos of life and presents it all convincingly.