Original Production
Originally produced by The Foothill Theatre Company
Nevada City, California
Artistic Director: Philip Charles Sneed
DIRECTOR SANDS HALL
SET DESIGN TIM DUGAN
with Teresa Shea
LIGHTING DESIGN LES SOLOMON
COSTUME DESIGN NANCY PIPKIN
SOUND DESIGN CHRIS CHRISTENSEN
JO - SARAH BARNHART
BETH - ANA REUDEGER
MEG - KARYN CASL
YOUNG AMY - CLARE JACOBSON
AUNT MARCH - DIANE FETTERLY
MARMEE - DONNA BROWN
LAURIE LAURENCE - GILLEN MORRISON
JOHN BROOKE - SHAUN CARROL
MR. JOHN LAURENCE - STAN THOMAS-ROSE
MR. MARCH - JOHN BRETT
OLDER AMY - JOANNA NEWSOM
TINA (or JONATHON) - JORDON THOMAS-ROSE
FREIDICH BHAER - RICHARD ROBERT BUNKER
MR. DASHWOOD - SHAUN CARROL
DEMI and/or DAISY - JORDON THOMAS-ROSE
Excerpt
SCENE THREE: LAURENCE LIBRARY
Music grows in volume and two party-goers appear, walking and talking, giving a sense of the party in rooms adjacent to the one in which we find ourselves-the library of the Laurence house. Jo and Meg disappear upstage. Jo quickly reappears, without her cloak, stuffing a cookie in her mouth, and bumps into the couple we've already seen. She murmurs a muffled "sorry" as she backs into the library. Spotting the pile of books beside the wing-back chair, she kneels to look at them. This draws the attention of Laurie, who has buried himself in the armchair. He sits up.
JO: Dear me, I didn't know anyone was here. (Realizing.) Oh, it's you!
LAURIE: Do stay. Please.
JO: I'm so glad it's you. But won't I disturb you?
LAURIE: Not at all. I only came here because I don't know many people.
JO: But it's your party. Oh, what a wonderful room! Look at all these books!
Mr. Brooke, Laurie's tutor, appears, walking and talking with a shy Meg.
LAURIE: A fellow can't live on books. Though he (pointing at Mr. Brooke) thinks you can.
JO: We had such a good time over your nice Christmas present.
LAURIE: Grandpa sent it.
JO: But you put it into his head, didn't you?
LAURIE (ducking this compliment): How is your cat, Miss March?
JO: Nicely, thank you, Mr. Laurence, but I'm not Miss March. I'm only Jo.
LAURIE: I'm not Mr. Laurence, I'm only Laurie.
JO: Laurie Laurence?
LAURIE: My name's Theodore. They called me Dora, which I hated. So I made them call me Laurie instead.
JO: I wish I could make everyone call me Jo instead of Josephine. So sentimental. How did you manage it?
LAURIE: I thrashed them.
Aunt March and Mr. Laurence appear stroll in. Music shifts to a waltz.
JO: I can't thrash Aunt March. Christopher Columbus! What a lovely piano.
LAURIE (nods, glum): Grandfather doesn't like what I play.
JO: Come play ours sometime. You could play anything you like! (Waving.) Hello, Aunt March!
Aunt March is mortified to be hailed in this way; her hands fly to her cheeks. She takes Mr. Laurence's arm and with as much dignity as she can muster, hustles off.
LAURIE: I want to live in Italy and be a composer. Grandfather wants me to live here and sell tea. Don't you like to dance, Miss Jo?
JO: Usually I knock something over, or tread on people's toes, so I keep out of mischief and let Meg sail about.
Meg and Mr. Brooke sail by. The party-goers waltz through.
JO: Do you dance?
LAURIE: Sometimes. But I've been abroad and-
JO: Abroad! Italy! Christopher Columbus! Have you been to Paris?
LAURIE: Quel nom a cette jeune demoiselle en les pantoufles jolis?
JO (translating):"Who is the young lady in the slippers... pretty?"
LAURIE: Oui, mademoiselle. And I know the answer - Meg! And Beth is the rosy one that plays the piano, and sometimes goes out with a little basket?
JO (pleased, proud): That's my Beth.
LAURIE: And the curly-haired one is Amy.
JO: How did you find all this out?
LAURIE: Sometimes you forget to pull the curtain, and when the lamps are lighted, I look across from my window, and it's like looking at a picture-with the fire, and you all around the table with your mother...
JO: Don't just look. Come over and visit us.
LAURIE: Grandfather doesn't want me to be a bother to strangers.
JO: We're not strangers, we're neighbors. We want to know you, and I've been trying to do it ever so long.
His pleased look dismays her; after all, this is a male of the species. She stands abruptly. The music shifts to a feisty polka.
JO: Oh look at all these books!
LAURIE: Use them all you like. Grandpa is usually gone during the day, so you needn't be timid.
JO (challenging him): I'm not afraid of anything.
LAURIE: I don't believe you are.
Meg and Mr. Brooke polka by, laughing, clearly having a wonderful time.
JO: Who's that keeps dancing with Meg?
LAURIE: That's my tutor, John Brooke.
JO: That's a splendid polka. Why don't you go try it?
LAURIE: If you come too.
JO (how she wants to): I can't.
LAURIE: Why not.
JO: You won't tell?
LAURIE: Never!
JO: I have a bad trick of standing before the fire, and I burn my frocks. (Turns and points where.) Meg told me to keep still, so no one would see. Go ahead, laugh.
LAURIE (does not laugh): We can dance grandly right here, and no one will see us. Please, won't you?
Jo and Laurie dance grandly.
Copyright Sands Hall 2001
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Wellesley Summer Theatre, 2002
THIS "LITTLE WOMEN" A BIG SUCCESS
Little Women was virtually required reading for girl's of this writer's generation. This particular rebellious youngster infinitely preferred the mystery adventures of Nancy Dew and the Hardy Boys, and indeed never managed to finish Louisa May Alcott's classic.
Perhaps things would have been different had she been taken to see Nora Hussey's production of "Little Women" as adapted by Sands Hall. Suddenly, decades after it should have happened, she understood the appeal… This is not to say the story doesn't retain its sentimentality, But Hall and Hussey have managed to downplay the bathos and empathize the humor and the fully drawn characterizations…..
-The Boston Globe
Foothill Theatre Company, 1999
Two holiday shows opened last week… the one to see for sure is Foothill Theatre Company's production of Little Women… Sands Hall's script covers more of the book than most other theatrical and film versions, but even though it crams several decades and a host of characters into two and a half hours of theatre, the production is surprisingly coherent and clear. The show radiates an atmosphere of comfy domesticity, but also offers a savvy appraisal of the daily struggles of family life, including unexpected illness and economic travail. It's honest and yet also affectionate, and very attractive combination.
-Jeff Hudson, Capital Public Radio (Sacramento NPR Affiliate)
… Foothill (Theatre Company) wrapped up the year with another original script, this time by Sands Hall…who did a wonderful job transferring Louisa May Alcott's "Little Women" to the stage. Not only were these solid shows, a great many of the performances were sold out. Who says that good work goes unrewarded?
-Sacramento News and Review, "Best Picks of '99."
