LITTLE WOMEN Director’s Note

Our curtain rises 150 years in the past to a time without a dizzying variety of electronic devices to keep us entertained or at our peak productivity output; a time when keeping up with distant friends or relatives meant we had to pick up a pen, dip it in ink, and with legible penmanship, write a letter; a time when we had to depend on journalists, newspapers, and novels to take us out of our relatively small realities and give us a broader perspective. There were no cars but also no two-hour daily commutes. There weren't any drive-thru Starbucks, but neighbors took turns stopping by for coffee. Fun was sitting together telling stories or playing games, and when we danced, we were at parties or balls, and we held hands and practiced steps we all knew. We connected on a very personal level instead of participating in a communal experience, individually. Still, in spite of all the differences, people were very much the same then as now. They loved, laughed, cried, yearned for success, died needlessly, and fought wars not everyone could agree on. So, just for tonight, don't expect a great spectacle. No one will drop from the ceiling, fly over your heads, or rise up from trap doors; nothing will explode or mutate; the stage won't spin, and a massive ship won't float by. Tonight, you get a break from progress, a respite from all our modern marvels as we whisk you back to a quieter, more gentile era; a time when (hold on now) imagination was the thing!

- Stephen Crisp, Director