The Grand Marais Playhouse is ready to kick off its regular theatrical season April 19 with the production of Little Women adapted by Kristen Laurence from the beloved book by Louisa May Alcott.
High School Senior Maria Nickolay directs this production. It is the first studentdirected production in many years for the Playhouse. Maria’s past experience as a talented actor and stage manager made the transition to director a natural progression for her. Her skills in communicating with the actors, positive motivation and encouragement, and her attention to detail led this ensemble to create the heartwarming environment necessary to bring the classic story to life and make for an entertaining evening of theater.
The cast of nine includes a mother/daughter/ granddaughter trio that makes this production even more special. Janet Healy (Aunt March), her daughter Amy Henrikson (Marmee) and her granddaughter Linnea Henrikson (Amy) perform together in this wonderful story about family. The rest of the cast includes Mara MacDonnell (Jo), Cailin Carpenter (Meg), Sarah Larsen (Beth), Diane Stoddard (Hannah), Adrianna Berglund (Sally Mae), and Yvonne Block (Aunt Carol).
Letter from father! The cast of Little Women delights at receiving a letter from Mr. March. (L-R, front) Linnea Henrikson, Amy Henrikson, Mara MacDonell. (L-R, back) Sarah Larsen and Cailin Carpenter.
Assisting Maria as stage manager is Brenna Hay, and Emma Bradley leads the costuming crew, creating the look of the Civil War era.
A synopsis of the play in Dramatic Publishing reads: The play begins that memorable Christmas when Marmee leaves to visit her sick husband and Jo sells her beautiful hair to help finance the trip. It ends just a year later when the happy family is again preparing to celebrate not only Christmas but also the return of Mr. March. In between these two events, we again live, laugh, love and cry with Meg, Jo, Amy and Beth as they go through the many trials and tribulations that have made this story a classic.
Little Women runs April 19 – 22 and 26 – 29, Thursday – Saturdays at 7 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. at the Arrowhead Center for the Arts. Tickets are $10 adults and $5 students 18 and under.
The first weekend (April 19 – 22) will have three special events. Thursday is Opening Night with a reception with the cast in the ACA lobby following the performance.
New for the 2012 season, the Playhouse is adding a Food Shelf Friday performance. On the first Friday performance of each Playhouse production, audience members can receive a buy one get one free ticket at the box office by bringing a bag of groceries (containing five items or more) of useable food shelf items to the performance or making a donation of $10 or more to the food shelf at the box office.
For the Sunday performance, the Playhouse will continue its Donation at the Door for all first Sunday performances. Audience members can pay any amount for their ticket. Everyone is welcome. No one is turned away due to ability to pay.
If you haven’t looked at the Grand Marais Playhouse website, www.grandmaraisplayhouse.com, in a while, you should do so. Now it is easier to get tickets online for every Playhouse production and to make a donation to help the Playhouse. You can even make a recurring donation that helps to ensure the Playhouse has the resources to continue to provide high-quality theater and educational opportunities!
New on our posters is a QR code that will lead you directly to the ACA online ticket site. Supporting your local theater is now at your fingertips and will only take a moment.
Coming this June, you will be able to download e-tickets for all ACA events. More on that next time!
Grand Marais Playhouse Artistic Director Sue Hennessy provides this behind-thescenes look at Grand Marais Playhouse activities.
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