Union’s theater department will present the musical “Little Women” March 23-28 in the PAC Powell Theater.
The play is filled with comedy, tragedy and a little bit of sword-fighting action. David Burke, the director of the play and professor of theater, has put a lot of heart and soul into making this musical come together. The theater department made a commitment to do a musical every year, and with the sucess of last year’s “Into the Woods,” which sold out every night, they have extremely high hopes for this year as well.
The cast auditioned in December and started working on the play in February in order to bring the musical to life and make it enjoyable for the viewers.
“My son, who graduated from Union, put on Little Women in New York City and once I watched how well that came together and how amazing the performance was, I was inspired to try it out here,” Burke said. “The students selected the play out of a list of five musicals and decided this one would be a lot of fun.”
Since the musical is a comedy, he hopes to get a lot of laughs out of the audience, but also hopes everyone sees the more serious elements of the production.
“I think the overall theme of this play is that there’s hope no matter what you go through. You keep going and never lose sight of your dreams, even in the hard times,” said Priscilla Porter, a senior theatre major.
Porter is playing the role of Marmee, a single mother who is basically forced to raise four daughters on her own. This is Porter’s last play as an undergraduate at Union, and she said she’s taken advantage of every moment she has with the cast and has enjoyed getting to work on this musical.
Not only is this play one of comedy and soul-searching, but also one of sword fighting scenes, choreographed by Samuel Edgren, a junior English and Theatre double major who also happens to be skilled in fencing.
“The sword-fighting is more for the guys that come with their girlfriends…but anyone will enjoy it,” Edgren said.
The play will be at 7 p.m. and tickets are available online for $10 or $12 at the door.