Theatre Woodstock’s Little Women heartwarming take on family and growing up

(Left to right) Katie Raymond, Lauren Tucker, Karen Vance (center), Zayne Tucker, and Alyssa Dutton will portray the March family during Theatre Woodstock’s production of Little Women. (Emily Stewart Photo)

Emily Stewart, Echo Correspondent

A literary classic will arrive on the Theatre Woodstock stage just in time for the holidays.

Kate Hamil’s adaptation of Little Women, a Classic novel originally written by Louisa May Allcott, will run from Nov. 28 to Dec. 7. The play explores the life of the March sisters Jo, Amy, Meg, and Beth as they grow up from girls to women during the Civil War and experience sisterhood, tragedy, and what it means to be a woman.

"You're going to laugh, you're going to cry,” said director Lenore Butcher. “I'm not going to sugar-coat this, you are going to cry but at the end of the day, you're going to walk out feeling like you've been with this family and you've lived with this family - I think this covers three to four years of their lives - you're going to feel like you've lived those years with them and you're going to have a window into something pretty special."

Rehearsals are going well so far, with Butcher praising the cast’s talent and care for their colleagues. She said the performers portraying the March sisters, Alyssa Dutton (Meg), Katie Raymond (Amy), Lauren Tucker (Jo), and Zayne Tucker (Beth), act like sisters.

"Early on in the rehearsal process, one of them said to me, 'I actually feel like you've given me three more sisters,' so the four of them are so kind to each other and so careful with each other and just really supportive of each other,” Butcher said. “The actress who plays their Marmee (Karen Vance), they got a whole maternal flow going, it's really wonderful."

When she was nine years old, Butcher received a copy of Little Women from her favourite aunt and always loved the story. She also read the other books in the series, Good Women and Little Men.

"When I read it, I was completely enamoured of the March sisters. I read every book that Louisa May Allcott wrote about them,” she explained.

Butcher thought Jo March was the most relatable character when she first read it, but now finds she can resonate with the other sisters too.

"I thought I was Jo. I think every girl thinks she's Jo. As I've gone through the process, I've started to realize that we're actually a little bit of everything. We're all a little bit of Meg, we're all a little bit of Jo, we're a little bit of Beth, and yes, we're even all a little bit of Amy at times. It's always resonated deeply, such a beloved story."

The story of the March sisters has several adaptations in theatre, literature, and film combined, touching on themes still relevant today, like PTSD, post-partum depression, and what it means to be a woman. Butcher went with Hamil’s version because of how she tackles womanhood.

"She's really highlighted Jo's struggles about what it means to be a woman, and I think every woman goes through that identity at some point in their life - trying to figure out how they're going to work in society when society already has rules you have to live under and how do we live by those rules or live without those rules,” she said.

Tickets are $28 each, or $20 on Thrifty Thursdays. They can be purchased at the box office at 22 Reeve St., by calling 519-537-2582, or online at www.theatrewoodstock.com.