The Rep Retells ‘Little Women’ for Today’s Audience

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Photo by Bronwen Houck

The Milwaukee Rep - Little Women

Rebecca Cort, Cy Paolantonio, Katie Peabody, and Amelio García in the Milwaukee Rep's ‘Little Women’.

Along with Mark Twain, Louisa May Alcott is one of the few 19th-century American novelists with whom most people are still familiar. Her fame rests on one of the most cherished young adult novels, Little Women (1868). Alcott’s protagonist and alter ego, Jo March, is a teenage tomboy who’d rather be a writer than a wife. Hollywood has helped keep Little Women in circulation, with Katherine Hepburn starring as Jo in 1933, Winona Ryder in 1994 and Saoirse Ronan in 2019 film. Two 21st century novels were inspired by Little Women, Katherine Weber’s The Little Women and Geraldine Brooks’ March.

And then there is Kate Hamill’s 2018 stage version of Little Women, directed for the Milwaukee Rep’s upcoming production by Marti Lyons. Lyons is familiar to local theatergoers from her work with American Players Theatre and for directing Wife of a Salesman at the Rep. 

Lyons describes Hamill as “a marvelous adaptor of stories.” Her Little Women follows Alcott’s narrative but through her own “high-energy, deeply theatrical, and ensemble-driven aesthetic. While Hamill's work does not encompass the totality of the novel—and how could it?—it so beautifully showcases the heart of Alcott's story,” Lyons continues. 

While respecting the integrity of Alcott’s novel, Hamill’s take on Little Women is a version created for audiences today. “Much like Louisa May Alcott staged plays with her sisters in their living room, so we are an ensemble of artists who are putting on a play set now, then, and in our collective imagination,” Lyons says. “Our costumes, like our set, are inspired by the period, but with contemporary influence and the play takes place across several locations. Ultimately, as an artistic ensemble, we are retelling an American classic through a contemporary lens.”

The Milwaukee Repertory Theater will perform Little Women Jan 16-Feb. 18 at the Quadracci Powerhouse. Recommended for ages 10 and up.