Arlington Community Theatre gets exclusive rights to new version of "Little Women"

Arlington Friends of the Drama (AFD) will be launching the first Massachusetts production of Lauren Gunderson’s new adaptation of Little Women. One of the most produced playwrights in the US today, Gunderson is known for her portrayals of strong, independent women, often unearthing untold stories.

She began writing the play of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women in 2023, and presented its first reading at Orchard House in Concord in July 2024. AFD member Lis Adams is the Education Director there and helped host the event. She approached Gunderson about whether AFD might be the first community theater to produce the play, after its premiers at the commissioning theaters.

In a unique funding collaboration, four theaters* across the US had worked together to commission the play. They wanted a fresh take on Little Women while staying true to the original book.

In a September 2025 interview with Metro Silicon Valley, Gunderson stated, “I really wanted to do something special with it. So instead of just being the story of the March sisters, it’s also the origin of those beloved characters and Louisa [May Alcott] discovering the reason to write them, and stepping into the story through herself and putting her sisters into it. We get to know both the Alcott and the March families.”

AFD was thrilled when Gunderson agreed to let the historic community theater produce the play. A highly experienced team has been assembled to do the honors. Lis Adams, an actor, director and playwright herself, is serving as production manager, dramaturg and dialect coach. David Warnock, the director, has a long list of acting and directing credits and the set design is by the award-winning Ruth Neeman. Molly Trainer, costume designer, spent much of her career as a Boston area professional costume designer for Emerson, Gloucester and Lyric Stage companies, and she won an Elliot award for designing Twelfth Night for the Actors Shakespeare Project. Other members of the team include Bob Pascucci on sound design, Jack Wickwire on hair & makeup, Helane Blinn on props and Iain Bason as lighting designer.

The play has seven actors. Over ninety actors came out to audition for those parts, and the Director was very pleased with the pool of talent to choose from. In the end, he chose Tara Boudreau to play the lead as Louisa May Alcott and Jo March. Emily Deller plays Beth, while Madison Adamthwaite portrays Amy and Katrin Otterness plays the final March sister Meg. Kris Reynolds was chosen for both the mother (“Marmee”) and Aunt March. The sisters’ best friend outside the family is Laurie, played by Mack Carroll, while Patrick McCarthy plays the other male roles.

The show opens May 1 and runs through May 17, with performances Friday and Saturday at 8PM, Sunday at 2PM. Tickets are $25, and can be purchased through the website at afdtheatre.org/buy-tickets or reserved through the box office at boxoffice@afdtheatre.org. The theater is located in the historic district of Arlington Center, behind Town Hall at 22 Academy Street. There is on-street parking, or one can take the 77 bus from Harvard Square. The theater has an accessible lift from the street level; wheelchair seating must be reserved in advance by calling the box office at 781-646-4922. There is one intermission with an approximate run time of two hours twenty minutes. Appropriate for all ages.

*The four commissioning theaters were TheatreWorks Silicon Valley (MountainView, CA), City Theatre Company (Pittsburgh), Northlight Theatre (Skokie, Ill.) and People’s Light (Malvern, Pa.)