City Theatre and three regional partners have commissioned Lauren Gunderson, one of America’s most-produced playwrights, to adapt Little Women for a coast-to-coast launch.
In partnership with Northlight Theatre (Skokie, Illinois), People’s Light (Malvern, PA) and TheatreWorks Silicon Valley (Palo Alto, California), City Theatre will be part of a “rolling” world premiere, with the adaptation of Louisa May Alcott‘s classic novel receiving four independent productions between 2024 and 2026.
The partnership “represents an example of how regional nonprofit producers continue to adapt to post-pandemic financial realities while exploring new partnerships that allow for the continued investment in the commissioning of new work for the stage,” City Theatre’s announcement stated.
All four theaters have a history of producing plays by Gunderson, with City’s productions including The Revolutionists and holiday plays last season and upcoming: Miss Bennett: Christmas at Pemberley in 2023, and The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley, opening on the South Side on November 30, 2024.
The idea for the new Little Women originated with People’s Light producing artistic director Zak Berkman pitching the idea to Gunderson in 2023. City Theatre recently partnered with People’s Light on a production of Somewhere Over the Border.
“After receiving an enthusiastic response, Berkman reached out to fellow artistic leaders BJ Jones (Northlight), Giovanna Sardelli (TheatreWorks), and Clare Drobot and Monteze Freeland (City Theatre) to gauge interest in pooling resources to cover the cost of the commission,” the announcement said.
The agreement comes with the opportunity for each producing organization to be the first to receive producing rights and enter into a separate licensing agreement with Gunderson.
“I am so grateful Lauren leapt at this idea, and this coalition of wonderful theaters could gather together to make it a reality. We are thrilled to be partnering with everyone,” Berkman said in the announcement.
A draft of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women has been completed, and the script will receive a development workshop at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley in September 2024 before the initial production will occur at Northlight Theatre this holiday season. Subsequent productions will follow at TheatreWorks, City Theatre and People’s Light. In July, a reading of the new script was presented as part of the “Summer Conversational Series” sponsored by Louisa May Alcott’s Orchard House, a museum in Alcott’s family home in Concord, Massachusetts.
Playwright Gunderson shared the following about the commissioned work :
“Little Women was one of the very first plays I did in middle school. I played Jo, of course, and since then I’ve always had an adaptation of my own in mind. Alcott is such a radical storyteller, even as her work is often misunderstood as simply sweet Americana. I wanted this adaptation to be as spritely, robust and surprising as Alcott and her work. Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women blends the rebelliousness of both Alcott and her semi-biographic heroine Jo into a version with all the romance, wit and brazenness of the novel but the fresh agility and intimacy of the stage.
“I’m so honored and overwhelmed by the support of all four of these iconic American theaters to bring this adaptation to life. It’s a collaboration and community that playwrights dream of.”
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