The bright stage lights are nothing compared to the radiant glow on the actors’ faces as they passionately recite lines to their dream role. This passion carries out into the audience and suddenly a production of a period piece becomes much more than just a production; it’s a live telling of the story of being a woman, a sister, a daughter, a mother.
This year’s ELHS fall play is “Little Women,” based on Louisa May Alcott’s novel of the same name. The play follows the four March sisters (Jo, Meg, Beth, and Amy) during the Civil War from their childhood to adulthood. Four evening shows, all starting at 7, will run Nov. 7 to Nov. 10, with tickets costing $5 for students and $10 for adults in ELHS auditorium. New to this year’s performances, one of the four shows will be solely played by understudies.
“What I really love about the play is the community and bond it brings. It has such a strong message and it just brings everyone together. It’s also the first period piece we’ve done and I’m really excited to use everything in the costume closet we’ve never used before,” senior and stage manager Paloma Vasquez said.
The play centers around family dynamics leading the cast to be even closer than they already were. In order to portray sisterhood, the Drama Club committed to establishing a strong bond within the cast to make them feel genuine and spent the past few weeks focusing on bonding with each other.
In addition to the use of understudies and the natural flow the cast has, another unique aspect includes the use of a short film. The short will be a compilation of clips to portray how the sisters have grown. The short film also serves to make the time jumps less confusing.
“After Act I, they have grown up so much and we wanted to do something unique that shows this. In the movie there’s a scene where they are all at the beach, and Beth is sick but she’s feeling a little better. They are all just relaxing, reading, painting and we thought that was a really nice moment. “So our version is silent and just a bunch of shots of them relaxing and hanging out,” Vasquez said. The short will be shown in between the two acts and each cast will have their own version. “Although the girls are kind of stereotypical, and fit into a sort of archetype, within that the characters are so beautifully written because any person can relate to them. You can find pieces of yourself in each of them,” senior and Drama Club member Jane Campbell said.
For many of the cast members, especially the seniors, this play is a dream for them – feeling perfectly aligned with their character in some way, leading the production and acting to flow.
“This play is about a lot of different things. It’s a lot of happiness and a lot of unhappiness,” sophomore and Drama Club member Leo Tamura said.
Even though the play centers around four sisters, the story isn’t just about them and their struggles as women. They go through struggles that any human being can relate to. Unlike other plays that can be at times otherworldly and out of reach, “Little Women” feels like a real story played by real people.
