Improv Playhouse stages 'Little Women'
"Little Women" tells the story of the four March girls - Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy - as they grow to adulthood in 19th century New England.
At the start of the play, the girls are faced with the prospect of a dreary Christmas the year their father is away at war. Money is tight, and what they do have the family shares with their even poorer neighbors. But the girls are resourceful, and they can never be really poor when they have each other.
Producer David Stuart tells us more about the production in an Q&A with the Daily Herald.
Q. Briefly, what is this play about?
A. In the words of playwright Scott Davidson: "Alcott's story is a very human piece of art. It is not structured around large issues of international importance or deadly intrigue. It is instead a carefully piece mosaic of all the important people and moments that mold and make a life. It speaks to all who read it because it speaks with the voice of truth, shaped by the tones of experience."
Q. What type of play is it?
A. Youth drama.
Q. Tell us what you know about the author, and the history behind this play.
A. Louisa May Alcott led a remarkable, multifaceted literary life. She is best known for the novels of sentiment and domesticity. She wrote realistic accounts of her service as a Civil War nurse, fairy stories and fables specifically for children, letters in the Woman's Journal on all aspects of women's rights, and perceptive adult novels such as her first, Moods, a probing analysis of the extremes of love. Her early life in Boston and Concord, Massachusetts, was colored by her family's high-minded idealism but also by an often-acute poverty. As the daughter of Amos Bronson Alcott, Transcendental philosopher and educational reformer, and Abigail May Alcott, one of the first paid social workers in Massachusetts, her days were spent in a progressive intellectual environment, which included such family friends as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and Nathaniel Hawthorne. This setting provided much of the autobiographical background for Little Women. Her three sisters, Anna, Lizzie and May, served as the source for their March family counterparts Meg, Beth and Amy. The fiery-spirited Jo was, of course, modeled on Louisa herself.
Q. What's the appeal of doing this play from your point of view?
A. Little Women is such a universal story about family and the people and things that are truly important in life. It's one of those classical pieces of literature that everyone should read at some point in their life. One of the most exciting things to me was to see how many of the young actors went out and read the novel in preparation for their parts. Enjoying the piece in this way will make a deeper impact on them than if they had to read it, for example, for a school assignment.
Q. What makes this play fabulous?
A. The novel is epic and would be impossible to represent in its entirety in an onstage adaptation. I like this particular version because I think it does an excellent job of bringing in many of the most formative events in Jo's journey, telling a more complete version of the story without feeling like too much has been cramped into a short piece.
Q. Without giving too much away, is there a "don't miss" moment, and when does it come?
A. This piece is being performed by students who are mostly between 10 and 15 years old, so anyone who has read the novel knows that there are trials the March family faces which most of these young thespians have never endured themselves. There is one scene in the second act in particular where the students are doing a remarkable job of capturing a very emotional and heart-rending event in the family's life.
Q. Has the play received awards or notable nominations?
A. No
Q. List the main cast and crew in your production.
A. The main cast and crew of the production includes children from Libertyville, Vernon Hills, Mundelein, Lake Forest, Lake Bluff, Grayslake, Round Lake, Hawthorn Woods, Wauconda, Buffalo Grove and Lincolnshire. Kim Kueny and Mark Cooper are high school assistant directors. Tobi Lowrance, director. David Stuart, producer.
Q. Who are you?
A. Improv Playhouse is a full-service acting school that specializes in comprehensive improv-comedy and acting classes for adults and youth. This Young Actors Workshop Production comes under the iP Creative and Education Outreach program. Tobi Lowrance, director. I am on staff with Improv Playhouse. This is the second production I've directed, the other being "The Hunchback of Notre Dame." I am Chicago-based actor, singer, director, music director and teacher.
<p class="factboxheadblack">If you go</p> <p class="News">Improv Playhouse Young Actors Workshop presents "Little Women," adapted from the novel by Louisa May Alcott.</p> <p class="News"><b>When:</b> 3 and 7 p.m. Saturday, June 6 and 1:30 and 4 p.m. Sunday, June 7.</p> <p class="News"><b>Where:</b> The Vernon Hills Sullivan Center stage, 635 N. Aspen Drive. </p> <p class="News"><b>Tickets:</b> Can be purchased by calling the Improv Playhouse Box Office at (847) 968-4529 or by visiting <a href="http://www.improvplayhouse.com" target="new">improvplayhouse.com</a>. Adults are $10; students, seniors and military are $7.</p>