EJ JACOBS
Life & Arts Editor
What makes a story timeless?
Some students say Fredonia’s Performing Arts Company (PAC) has perfected the answer.
Every year, PAC puts on five productions: two main stage productions, two experimental productions and one collaborative production, which is usually written by a student.
Students create pitches in the spring semester to present to the PAC executive board that detail why they want to perform certain shows for the next year.
During this year’s PAC shows, there has been a large focus on feminism.
One of the shows that they chose to represent this topic is Little Women, originally a book written by Louisa May Alcott during the 1800s. The book has since had film and theater adaptations.
When talking about the process of putting on a PAC show, Erin Houghtaling, senior BFA musical theater major who plays Amy March in Little Women, said, “PAC has a really extensive application process for their shows. You need a full concept of a full team … You need to be able to argue in front of the board [with a] fully planned-out budget … [It’s] really interesting to see that behind the scenes, especially because most of the people on the board are actors or tech majors, but [are] putting the[ir] production shoes on and having to think of all the tiny little logistics.”
Little Women has a long and beloved legacy, with film adaptations spanning centuries.
“What’s so beautiful about Little Women is how timeless it is,” said Bowie Rivera, director of Little Women
and senior BA theater arts major.
According to Rivera, Little Women touches on “what everyone goes through growing up … The story is about love, loss, self-discovery and family.”
The relatability of each of the show’s characters further aids in its longevity.
“I think it’s so timeless because everyone can see themselves in any of these characters,” said Houghtaling, “especially in this PAC season that revolves … so much around different takes of feminism.”
“Everyone can relate to at least one character or more in some way or another and these things that they go through. Even though it [takes place] so long ago, [during] the Civil War period, you can still translate things to modern times,” Rivera added.
Throughout the years, there have been many adaptations of Little Women.
This version of Little Women is on a considerably smaller scale than other versions.
“It’s an interesting adaptation because everything is supposed to take place in a year, ” said Houghtaling. “I think our interpretation of the timeline that we’ve kind of come up with as a team takes place over like six years.”
“[Everyone] explores their feminism in their own way,” said Houghtaling. “Meg wants to have children and be a wife and maybe that’s a path some people want to go down. [M]aybe some people want to fight the system like Joe. [M]aybe some people want to use all the cracks in [the system] to their advantage like Amy. [M]aybe some people just don’t know and are still trying to figure themselves out like Beth. [I]f you’re male, female, nonbinary, old, young, haven’t read the book, [or haven’t seen] the movie, …you can identify with any of the sisters.”
Arden Brown, senior musical theater major who plays Beth in Little Women, said “I think at the core of the story is family.”
