Behind the Scenes: Little Women
To me, this story has a beautiful kaleidoscopic effect. When you meet these characters at a different time in your life, the images shift; relationships and moments that slipped by you previously come into focus in brilliant, moving detail. The words are the same, but you are different; therefore the story is, too. For those of us who worked on the 2005 production, we’ve all experienced this. We’ve seen and felt new things, shaped by how we’ve grown – who we’ve become – since we last visited the world of Jo and her family. It’s wondrous and exciting, to realize how our perspective shifts, how capable are brains and hearts are, of growing, increasing, transforming.
Given this, the show has something for everyone, even for those who’ve seen it before – and it’s great for families, for mixes of generations, because there’s something for all stages of life. For children who are so rich in imagination, always ready to play and make-believe; for young adults new to love, marriage and all its complications; for those of us who are caretakers, grappling with the inevitable loss of loved ones; for parents (and grandparents!) who recognize, and share, the gifts of hard-earned wisdom.
What’s more, this show is a great reminder of the potential of this holiday season. When families gather, it’s powerful: our capacity to love one another despite our faults, our ways of supporting and inspiring one another to become the best
version of ourselves. It’s a time of rest and celebration, yes, but also of transformation, and renewal.
These are the ideas that inspired the design and staging of our brand-new production. Rooted in Jo’s power to create and transform herself and the world around her, we begin simply, with the image of Jo at her writing desk, a single lantern in the darkness, the artist imagining how to fill the empty page. As she writes, people pour onto the stage, their voices, and stories emerging from the shadows, growing brighter and more distinct as Jo’s storytelling gains force. And with this, there’s the potent juxtaposition of the warm heart of the March household, and the darker realities of the Civil War battlefront.
This tension between hopefulness and despair lingers throughout, which feels so true to me – because
that’s life, isn’t it? And always, that ineffable human ability to make something out of nothing, whether that’s weaving a story seemingly out of thin air, or how capable we are of finding the plenty in the scarcity; that way we have of finding something to share and celebrate, even when it seems we have very little.
It is our stories, and our relationships, that make us rich. And it is my hope that audiences will leave the theatre thinking about this, about the countless little gifts and privileges that surround us. “What do I have to celebrate? What do I have to share?” Likely more than you think…
Julie McIsaac, Director
“Grease is the word and it is now our all-time best selling production…This is the first time we’ve sold out an entire production run – remarkable considering it’s nearly three month’s long. This likely places us in a small group of North American theatres that have experienced a complete sell-out over a continuous run of this length – 98 performances,” says Randal Huber, Chemainus Theatre’s Managing Director.
Congratulations to the hard-working cast and creative team of Grease for putting on such a successful and fantastic show! Time and time again we have heard compliments about the set, costumes and how incredible every cast member was in their performance.
The Little Prince has been adapted for the stage by Roderick Glanville. Thank you to Roderick for answering our questions about our upcoming summer KidzPlay. To get tickets for you and your favourite child 
You’ll get more than you bargained for at Mr. Kim’s downtown Toronto convenience store. Along with his enormous variety of groceries and knick-knacks, he dispenses amusing folk wisdom, quizzical Korean trivia, and a peculiar type of pride. The hilarity and the business may be short lived if a big box store invades the neighbourhood, his daughter rejects the family shop, and his prodigal son returns. Is there a future for Kim’s Convenience?
That’s a big question. My music career has greatly influenced my theatrical work. For the role of Guy in ONCE I’m drawing from a big well of personal experience as a musician, and as someone who has gone through my fair share of concrete and ambiguous relationships. Conversely, my theatre work has informed my music in subtler ways. Whether I’m watching or starting work on a piece of theatre, in the back of my mind I’m always paying attention to the arc of the story, and the craft of the text. When I’m taking in any art (visual, stand-up comedy, theatre, etc) on some level I’m always observing which elements connect with people, and considering how I might derive those to grow as an artist. 
an informal, personal way. The songs are unbelievably beautiful and integral to the plot and the feeling of the show. The music is almost a character all its own, a blend classic, folk, rock, Eastern, and Irish music – a truly soul-filling sound.