By: Lee Hankinson (cjh012@marietta.edu)
This past weekend was the closing night of Marietta College’s theatre production, Little Women, directed by Casiha Felt. Little Women is a musical adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s beloved novel of the same name. The novel focuses on the lives of the four March sisters: Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy. The sisters navigate the challenges of growing up in Civil War-era America. The story explores themes of love, ambition, and family; highlighting Jo’s aspirations as a writer; Meg’s desire for wealth; Beth’s gentle spirit; and Amy’s quest for artistic recognition. Through heartfelt songs and poignant moments, the musical captures the sisters’ dreams, struggles, and the bonds that tie them together, ultimately celebrating their journeys toward self-discovery and fulfillment. The musical premiered September 5th and concluded September 14th.
The cast list is as followed;
Jo March: Paige Doseck
Professor Bhaer: Jackson Bandy
Amy March: Lais Gabriela Flores
Meg March: Riley Matchinga
Beth March: Emma Gandor
Marmee March: Rose Wardlow
Laurie: Logan Hertle
John Brooke: Maurice Riley
Aunt March: Suzanne Walker
Mr Laurence: Jeff Walker
Mrs Kirk: Carlee Hankinson
The cast and crew were overwhelmed with the amount of people who attended. The highest number of attendees was almost 250 in one night. The love was felt throughout the whole cast and crew. During every intermission, Emma Gandor talked to the audience about the Sternwheel Festival and the theatre department’s Shakespeare in the Park. Gandor attended Marietta city schools, so she grew up in the area with the annual festival. Gandor, Riley Matchinga, and Lais Gabriela Flores even sang happy birthday to an audience member during one of the intermissions during the second weekend.
Soph Abrusci, one of the assistant stage managers, looks back and states how, “The stage management team was a dream team which made the rehearsal process go very smoothly.” Abrusci refers to themselves, their fellow assistant stage managers, Carlee Hankinson and Devin Hershberger, and the stage manager, Aurora Held-Dodd. Hershberger says his favorite part of the production process was, “When we had been taping the ramp for Jeff Walker to be able to see the lip and I had found out we both shared a favorite color, orange!”
The sound designer, Dallas Lacey, took a minute to reflect. He says, “My favorite thing about working on Little Women was seeing my work come to fruition and hearing the impact it had on the attendees.” This was Lacey’s first time ever as lead sound designer. It was a tough first go due to the “logistics of working at Muskingum Park,” says Lacey. He remembers at the end of the show, thinking he could have done better until someone came up to him after the show and said that he was worried he wouldn’t be able to hear due to hearing loss but said the sound design was perfect and he could hear everything perfectly. “This statement gave me a new perspective that I had never considered before and it made me realize the significance of what I do as a sound designer, resulting in my passion for sound design being reignited and greater than it has ever been,” Lacey says as he concludes his reflection. Marietta College Theatre’s next show is the New Plays In One Day Festival, also known as “NPIOD”. It is set to start at 8:00 p.m. on October 26th, the same day as Homecoming. Located in the Friedrich Theater at the Hermann Fine Arts Center, the show is free of charge. You can also find out more about the upcoming theatre season at, https://www.marietta.edu/theatre-season.
Edited by: Zachary Worstell (zdw001@marietta.edu)
