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We want to hear from you!
Fill out our form and tell us your favorite memory about Little Women.
Fill out our form and tell us your favorite memory about Little Women.
Did you read it as a child? Were you given a copy of the book? Are you a fan of the movie adaptations? What are you favorite moments in the story?
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Emily's Little Women
Emily's Little Women
Her history with Little Women began at a young age. As a child, her mother Laura would often read her books with feisty little girls like Anne of Green Gables, The Secret Garden, Little House in the Big Woods, and Little Women. Her mother was instrumental in instilling a love of these simple stories of strong girls who grew through their circumstances and built their character. Laura would introduce Emily to the first one or two in a larger series and say "there are more books if you want to read them on your own", which, shamefully, Emily rarely ever did. Thankfully, most of the stories she knew the beginnings of had film adaptations and her love of these books expanded.
The 1994 movie is approximately "one-eighth of my personality" according to Emily (the other percentages belong to Pride and Prejudice, Ever After, Cinderella, and others).
As a grad student, Little Women: the Musical was chosen as her thesis costume design. The process included 5 chapters of writing in addition to the designing the costumes and overseeing construction. Research for the time period began in the semester previous as well as historical background on Louisa May Alcott, the novel, and the production history and critical reception of the musical. The show opens in October 2017.
Cut to January 2018 and Emily received a phone call from her beloved New London Barn Playhouse and guess what show they are doing? So Emily adjusted her designs (the Barn stage wouldn't fit all those hoopskirts!) and built the show all over again, this time in only 8 days! A fury of cotton muslin mockups, a blur of fittings, and the support of a taxed, but rallied costume shop staff and the show opened in June 2018.
After Pride and Prejudice at Bethany, Emily would be the next director for the coming fall. Could it be time to revisit Little Women again? It would be the perfect show to adapt with Maren. But it was deemed a bit too similar to P&P (even though purists might not think so, the general public might), so her ideas quickly moved onto a new prospect, Greek tragedy and Antigone. But the thought was never far.
Knowing it would take a few months to meet and write...here we are now!
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