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Independence, MO —
Community theater is returning to its roots in the opening production for City Theatre of Independence’s 33rd season, its director says.
That’s because the local production of “Little Women” actually includes the cast of several real-life family members in a story that is all about the importance of family, coming of age and growing up.
“It feels like community theater used to be,” City Theatre veteran and “Little Women” director Marcie Ramirez says of the classic – last performed as the closer to City Theatre’s second season in 1982 – that opens tonight.
The late Marian de Forest wrote the stage adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s famous 1868 novel that follows the lives of the four March sisters – Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy. Because the play is now in public domain, Ramirez says she was able to rework certain elements of the 2 1/2-hour play.
For example, Richard Buswell, a Kansas City actor and director who also choreographs fights, choreographed a sword fight that is included in a play that Jo March wrote. The actors leave the stage during the sequence, and their cast mates return as the older versions of the characters.
“Their sword-fighting skills have significantly improved, and they’ve grown up,” Ramirez says, laughing. “That’s a way for us to bridge a gap between the age differences.”
City Theatre’s production covers the entire story arc of each sister, introducing several different actors as the characters age, but Gladstone resident Lauren Alfano portrays Jo throughout about three-fourths of the play. Alfano, 28, is making her City Theatre debut, although she has experience in the Kansas City film community.
“The biggest challenge is keeping her personality, but maturing her, as she goes from being this, kind of, little girl and still a tomboy to maturing a little bit,” Alfano says of being on stage as Jo for a significant portion of the play.
Like Alfano, Ramirez first learned the story of “Little Women” at a young age. About age 5, Ramirez says, she was first exposed to “Little Women” in an abridged version, and by middle school, she had read the entire novel. It’s a story in which most girls can relate with one of the four sisters, Ramirez says, and most men also can relate with the male characters in the story.
And just as Alfano and Ramirez learned the story at a young age, so are 10-year-old Audrey Hentges and 4-year-old Leo Hentges, the real-life sister and brother who are in “Little Women” with their parents, Kim and Matt.
Community theater is returning to its roots in the opening production for City Theatre of Independence’s 33rd season, its director says.
That’s because the local production of “Little Women” actually includes the cast of several real-life family members in a story that is all about the importance of family, coming of age and growing up.
“It feels like community theater used to be,” City Theatre veteran and “Little Women” director Marcie Ramirez says of the classic – last performed as the closer to City Theatre’s second season in 1982 – that opens tonight.
The late Marian de Forest wrote the stage adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s famous 1868 novel that follows the lives of the four March sisters – Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy. Because the play is now in public domain, Ramirez says she was able to rework certain elements of the 2 1/2-hour play.
For example, Richard Buswell, a Kansas City actor and director who also choreographs fights, choreographed a sword fight that is included in a play that Jo March wrote. The actors leave the stage during the sequence, and their cast mates return as the older versions of the characters.
“Their sword-fighting skills have significantly improved, and they’ve grown up,” Ramirez says, laughing. “That’s a way for us to bridge a gap between the age differences.”
City Theatre’s production covers the entire story arc of each sister, introducing several different actors as the characters age, but Gladstone resident Lauren Alfano portrays Jo throughout about three-fourths of the play. Alfano, 28, is making her City Theatre debut, although she has experience in the Kansas City film community.
“The biggest challenge is keeping her personality, but maturing her, as she goes from being this, kind of, little girl and still a tomboy to maturing a little bit,” Alfano says of being on stage as Jo for a significant portion of the play.
Like Alfano, Ramirez first learned the story of “Little Women” at a young age. About age 5, Ramirez says, she was first exposed to “Little Women” in an abridged version, and by middle school, she had read the entire novel. It’s a story in which most girls can relate with one of the four sisters, Ramirez says, and most men also can relate with the male characters in the story.
And just as Alfano and Ramirez learned the story at a young age, so are 10-year-old Audrey Hentges and 4-year-old Leo Hentges, the real-life sister and brother who are in “Little Women” with their parents, Kim and Matt.
The Hentges family makes the drive from Kansas City, Kan., to participate in community theater because Kim and Matt met in a high-school theater production – and children simply aren’t exposed to enough arts today, Kim says.
“I really feel like this gives kids a way to play and have fun and get out their creative sides. I know a lot of kids are looking for that place to fit in, and I think theater is that place for a lot of kids,” she says. “I know, for me, it’s just been really exciting watching Audrey on stage. It means the world to us, just to see our talent and our love of theater – to sit in the audience of a theater and watch our daughter on stage is a little bit moving.”
