Little Women Coming Back to the BU Stage
Little Women is coming back to Bluefield University. December 12-14 at 7:30 p.m. and December 14-15 at 3:00 p.m., the Bluefield Youth and Community Theatre (BYCT) is bringing the beautiful story of Little Women back to the Harman Chapel stage.
In 2011, this play was put on using the same script and stage design that will be used for this year’s presentation. Former Bluefield University student Jennifer Bohannan put the previous adaptation together and even played the lead female role, Jo March.
Some of the main actors taking on these beloved characters this year include Isabella Deel as Jo March, Rachel White as Meg March, Bethany Goins as Beth March, Eshaal Kahn as Amy March, Elei Haynes as Marmie, and Finn Smith as Laurie.
Theatre director Charles Reese stated that it was “difficult deciding how to cast everybody.” Now, he said, the Theatre Department is almost exclusively the youth theatre, partially due to the dwindling numbers of Theatre majors at Bluefield University.
“So many of them wanted to be Jo, Meg, Amy, and Beth…” Reese said. This caused slight heartache after the casting list was posted, but “…everyone was very supportive and very understanding that not everyone can be the star.”
Many members of the BYCT have been together for years and have truly become a family. Because this company has been together for a while, chemistry, especially between the March sisters, could have been successfully cast in a few variations.
Aside from chemistry between actors, casting is also determined based on who has had the biggest roles in recent shows or who has been in the ensemble. Unfortunately, when it comes to male roles, the lack of male participation normally causes repeats in the male lead casting.
Another challenge that the BYCT faces, because it is largely a youth company, is the casting of college age actors in romantic roles with 13-14-year-olds. This also plays a large role in the casting of the male leads in performances in order to avoid potentially uncomfortable or awkward situations.
In order to flesh out the cast and give a larger amount of the talented members of the BYCT a chance to shine, they have decided to include smaller characters and scenes from the book in a larger way. This includes the Hummel family and the Vaughans.
“We are fleshing it out to try to provide roles for as many as possible,” Reese said.
This show includes roughly 30 cast members ranging from age 12 all the way to 70. They are all putting in hard work to make this holiday performance truly special.
“You do not want to miss it,” Reese said. “It is going to be a beautiful play. The cast is doing great. The costumes are going to be beautiful. It is just a heartwarming, good story.”
“There are few movies, books, stories like this that you read that just exude good, and these people are good. They sacrifice, and they love, and they care, and I think that is something that is important these days.”
Charles Reese
So come and support the Bluefield Youth and Community Theatre as they perform their Christmas play, Little Women, this holiday season. You can use the hyperlink here to purchase your tickets now.
Photos courtesy of Ashley Burton-Pruitt.