<!-- BEGIN SETTINGS --> <style> .present { color: white; text-transform: italic; text-align: left; padding: 0 3rem; } .present h2 { font-size: 70%; text-transform: uppercase; color: yellow; opacity: 0.7; } .present h3 { color: white; text-align: center; padding: 0 3rem; } .present h4 { color: red; text-align: center; padding: 0 3rem } </style> <!-- END SETTINGS --> --- ### Little Women ### by ### Heather Chrisler #### *♬* Instrumental 1850's period music *♬* --- Good evening and welcome to First Folio’s production of LITTLE WOMEN. Just a reminder that cell phones, watches, and other electronic devices didn’t exist in the 19th Century… --- So please help us maintain the mood by turning yours off now. And please note that the taking of photographs and the use of recording devices of any sort is prohibited. Thank you. --- ## Jo Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents. --- ## Meg It’s so dreadful to be poor. --- ## Amy I don’t think it’s fair some girls have plenty of pretty things and other girls nothing at all. --- ## Beth We’ve got father and mother and each other. --- ## Jo We haven’t got father and shall not have him for a long time. Perhaps never-- ## Meg Hush! --- ## Meg It is going to be a hard winter for everyone with the war on. --- ## Meg We ought to-- ## JO Make our little sacrifices gladly? --- ## AMY Well I’m afraid I don’t. --- ## JO Come on, we have to work! We have to make fun for ourselves! --- #### *♬* *♬* *♬* *♬* --- ## JO Surrender you mutinous scum, or I’ll send you all to Davy Jone’s locker! --- ## AMY Never! We’ll never surrender the ship! --- ## MEG You seem to be out numbered, Bartholomew. --- ## BETH He most certainly is NOT! --- ## BETH No! --- ## BETH Go on without me! --- ## JO Now can we all stop our moaning. --- ## BETH Yes/ ## MEG Jo, no one was/ moaning. --- ## AMY I’ll try, but I do wish it could be like the old Christmases still. With oranges and things. --- #### *♬* *♬* JO BEGINS TO WHISTLE TO THE TUNE OF ‘GOD REST YE MERRY GENTLEMEN’*♬* *♬* --- ## AMY Jo! Don’t whistle, it’s so boyish! --- ## JO Amy! That’s why I/ do it. ## AMY I detest rude/ unladylike girls! --- ## JO And I hate affected niminy-piminy chits! --- ## BETH *♬* Birds in their little nests agree! *♬* --- ## JO No more sea battles, we have to get on with the important stuff. --- Where were we, I think Act 3? The witch appears in the castle hall! Coming to free the lovers and finish Hugo! --- ## BETH Are you going to write this story into your book as well, Jo? --- ## JO I haven’t yet, but I may. We’ll see how the public responds to it on stage first! --- ## AMY If you can call Marmee and Hannah the public. --- ## BETH You must put it in your book! It’s a lovely fairy tale. You’re such a wonderful writer! --- ## JO I hope so, it’s the only thing I’m good at. Can’t sew, or bake beautifully like you. --- Or play the piano the way you do. --- My only hope is to become a fabulous writer, then I will bring the March family back into a stately state. --- Christmas will be like the old days. --- ## AMY Were there very many presents? --- ## JO One year the sock I hung near the fire place fell down, it was crammed with so many presents! --- ## AMY And food! --- ## MEG What Hannah could do for breakfast alone was nothing short of a Christmas miracle. --- ## AMY I hate this dreadful war. --- ## MEG Be brave, Amy? For Father? --- ## AMY Oh, alright, but it’s practicularitally unbearable. --- ## JO I’m telling you, when I’m published I’ll fix it. We’ll have more money than we know what to do with. --- ## BETH It’s not just about money, Jo. People should read your stories. --- ## JO Alright! Alright! I’ll put it in the book. --- ## MEG Josephine, it’s true. --- You possess a wonderful imagination, but Amy’s right, you’re too old to be boyish, you should remember you are a young lady. --- ## JO Here Meg, you play Hugo. Amy you can be the witch. --- ## AMY I don’t want to be the old witch! --- ## JO Maybe I’ll make her turn into a princess later. --- ## AMY Fine. --- ## JO Beth do you want to be the lady or the knight, I am happy to let you choose, although I would really like it if you played the Lady. --- It’s not that I don’t like her, she’s noble enough, but I really like having a sword. Beth? Which one? Beth? --- Beth, is there a problem? --- ## BETH No there’s a boy. In the big house. --- ## JO Oh how jolly. --- ## AMY Don’t say ‘Jolly,’ Jo, it’s slang. --- ## MEG Marmee says he’s old Mr. Laurence’s grandson, but she thinks Mr. Laurence keeps him inside too often. --- He’s shut up in there. All alone except for his tutor. --- ## BETH I’d hate to be shut up in that spooky big house. --- ## AMY He does seem sad, and gallant. --- ## BETH Waiting for his coach to come around? --- ## AMY Like a prince’s chariot! --- ## JO Nonsense. He looks like a capital fellow. --- ## AMY A fine little gentleman, indeed. --- ## JO Blast! --- ## AMY Don’t say ‘blast!’ --- ## MEG Well, perhaps he’ll be at the New Year’s Dance --- ## JO I had almost forgotten about that worthless party! --- ## MEG I hadn’t! What shall we wear? --- ## JO What’s the use asking that? We shall wear our poplins. We haven’t got anything else. --- ## MEG If only I had silk! --- ## JO The silk industry is abhorrent, Meg, they use slaves, and little children in their factories --- ## MEG But- ## JO No. Oh drat! --- ## MEG What? --- ## JO I forgot, my Poplin is burnt. In the back. --- ## MEG You always stand too close to the fire. You will have to sit down whenever you can. --- The front is alright, just keep your back out of sight. --- ## MEG I shall have a new ribbon for my hair, and Marmee will lend me her little pearl pin, and my new slippers are lovely, and my gloves will do... --- ## JO Oh! I didn’t--I didn’t know-- --- ## LAURIE Don't mind me, hide here if you like. --- ## JO Will I disturb you? --- ## LAURIE No, I only came here because I don't know many people and I felt...rather strange, at first, you know. --- ## JO I do know. --- ## LAURIE I think I've had the pleasure of seeing you before. In a window perhaps? You live near us don't you? Next door? --- ## JO Window? I...we don't have windows. I mean. No. Yes! We do live next door. My susters and I. --- ## JO And Marmee, and Hannah, and Father would but he's away at war. --- Oh, and I have a pet rat who live in the attic. His name is Scrabble. --- ## LAURIE And how is Scrabble, Miss March? --- ## JO He is extremely well, thank you Mr. Lawrence, but I'm not "Miss March", I'm only Jo. --- ## LAURIE I'm not Mr. Lawrence, I'm only Laurie. --- ## JO Laurie Lawrence? --- ## LAURIE My first name is Theordore, but I don't like it. The fellows called me, Dora, so I made them call me, Laurie, instead. --- ## JO I hate my name too. I wish everyone would call me Jo instead of Josephine. --- #### *♬* A Waltz begin to play *♬* --- ## JOHN Do you dance Miss March? --- ## JO Do you dance, Laurie? --- ## LAURIE Sometimes, but I don't know the fashion yet here. I've been abroad-- ## JO Abroad! --- ## LAURIE Yes, at school in Vevay, or spending Winter in Paris. --- ## JO I would kill someone to see Paris. Do you speak French? --- ## LAURIE Oui. --- ## JO Say something. --- ## LAURIE Quel nom a cette jeune demoiselle en les pantoufles jolis? --- ## JO Alright...um...you said, “who is the young lady in the pretty slippers?” --- ## LAURIE Oui, mademoiselle. --- ## JO That’s my sister, Meg. --- ## LAURIE Ah. --- ## JO Do you think she’s pretty? --- ## LAURIE Yes. She’s very pretty. She dances like a lady --- ## JO You should see her tromp around as Sir Hugo, if you think she’s such a lady. --- ## LAURIE Sorry? --- ## JO Nothing. I suppose you’re going to college soon. --- ## LAURIE Not for a year or two. I’m only sixteen. --- ## JO How I wish I was going to college! --- ## LAURIE I can’t see myself enjoying it very much. I’d much rather go to Italy and live in my own way. --- ## JO What on earth is “living in your own way?” --- For me...it means being a writer. I wouldn’t have to live in Italy, but I could. Or France. Or Germany. Or India! --- ## LAURIE Do you write, then? --- ## JO All the time! I’m writing my first novel, actually! --- ## LAURIE Aren’t you marvelous? A lady writer. --- ## JO I know it sounds impossible. --- ## LAURIE No, there are a few lady writers. --- ## JO Only a few. --- #### *♬* A polka begins *♬* --- ## LAURIE I might not make a fool of myself in a fast dance, will you come? --- ## JO No. --- ## LAURIE Oh. I understand. --- ## JO No! It’s not you. I can’t. --- ## LAURIE Too clumsy? Will you trip over everything? --- ## JO Stop it! No. I have a trick of standing too close to the fire and I burn my frocks. --- You can laugh. It’s funny. --- ## LAURIE We can dance in here. --- ## MEG Jo, help, I’ve sprained my ankle. --- ## JO I knew you would hurt your feet in those silly shoes! --- ## MEG I can hardly stand. --- ## JO I don’t see what you can do but get a carriage or stay here all night. --- ## MEG No, no, I don’t want anyone to know. --- ## LAURIE I will take you home in my grandfather’s carriage. --- ## MEG It’s so early, you can’t mean to leave yet. --- ## LAURIE I always leave early. I really do. --- #### (the sound of a carriage going down the street) --- ## MEG It really seems like being a fine young lady to come home from a party in a carriage and sit with someone waiting on me. --- ## AMY I don’t believe fine young ladies enjoy themselves a bit more than we do. But I’m so jealous of you. --- ## MEG Oh, indeed? --- ## AMY He picked you up and whisked you off your feet? Like a little helpless feather. --- ## MEG Stop being silly about Laurie. --- ## JO Stop being silly about everything, featherhead. --- ## AMY Pincushion! --- ## JO Pipsqueak! --- ## MEG Honestly! --- ## JO It’s no use going on about a boy. --- ## AMY He’s so very rich and we’re so very poor. --- ## MEG I know, doesn’t it make you bitter? The ball-gowns, and bouquets? --- And the way people gossip about Opera and Theatre. It seems unjust we shouldn’t have anything like that. --- ## AMY Yes. But maybe we will have those things someday, Meg. --- ## JO Well, I don’t plan to wait around on my soft behind for it! No offense, Meg. --- ## MEG What in the world are you going to do now? --- ## JO Going for exercise! --- ## MEG You were out for two walks already this morning! --- ## JO I can’t stay in all day dozing by the fire like a pussycat. --- #### (winter ambient sound) --- ## JO How do you do! Are you sick? --- ## LAURIE A cold. Been cooped up all day! It’s dull as tombs at home! --- ## JO Have someone come see you then! --- ## LAURIE There isn’t anyone I would like to see. Boys makes such a row. --- ## JO Isn’t there some nice girl who’d read and amuse you? --- ## LAURIE Don’t know any. --- ## JO You know me. --- ## LAURIE So I do! --- ## JO So you do. --- ## LAURIE Will you read me something you have written? --- ## JO Ha! Not a chance. --- ## LAURIE I should like to hear it. What do you write about, anyhow? --- ## JO Oh nothing. --- ## LAURIE Nothing? --- ## JO Nothing that would interest someone lying around in bed all day. --- I write--I write about adventures. And danger. And who I want to be. --- ## LAURIE You want to be in danger? --- #### (music transition) --- ## JO Sir Hugo stands, back against the precipice! His hair blows freely in the wind like a lion’s mane! --- No. --- Sir Hugo stands, facing the dark cave, the smell of dampness in his lungs, hair clinging to his face with beads of dew and sweat. --- Quietly, without warning, like a figure emerging from hell, the witch appears... --- ## MEG Jo! --- ## JO Marmee, help!/ ## MEG /Jo --- ## JO /Oh --- ## BETH Marmee’s not here. She went to bring food to the Hummels, some of the children are sick and they’re hungry. --- I want to go over later to help her. --- ## JO That’s--I don’t really need Marmee, Beth, I was just startled. You’re always with the Hummels. --- ## BETH They’re poor, Jo. --- ## MEG And it’s lovely that you do so much charity for them. --- ## BETH I feel so sorry for them. Can you imagine? Six children huddled into one bed to keep from freezing. --- ## MEG It’s terrible. And so good of you and Marmee to be so kind. --- Jo, I came to ask you what on earth we are going to do about your gloves for the evening. --- ## JO Oh, that’s right. /I’ve soiled mine with coffee. ## MEG /You soiled yours with coffee. --- They’re so expensive and you’re so careless. Can’t you make them do? --- ## AMY Why are you talking about gloves? Are you going somewhere? Let me go too! There’s nothing to do at home. I’m so lonely! --- ## MEG I can’t, dear, because you aren’t invited. --- ## JO Meg! Sh! --- ## AMY You’re going somewhere with Laurie! --- ## JO You can’t go, Amy, so don’t be a baby! --- ## AMY Are you going to the theatre?/ Please let me go! ## JO /No, Amy, Laurie didn’t get you a seat. It would be rude to ask him to pay for another one! --- You’re so worried about being fashionable. Even Marmee told you you’re getting conceited. --- ## AMY But I want to see the play! I’ve got my rag money! --- ## MEG Next week you can go with Beth and Hannah and have a nice time. --- ## AMY But I want to go with you and Jo and Laurie! --- ## JO No! Amy, you’re acting like a spoiled little child! --- ## MEG Suppose we take her, I’m sure it would be alright. --- ## JO If she goes I shan’t! Come on, Meg! --- ## AMY You’ll be sorry for this, Jo March! --- ## JO Fiddlesticks! --- ## BETH You can come downstairs and help Hannah and I get food and quilts together for the poor. --- ## AMY No. --- ## BETH You want to come play with my kittens? They’re all squirmy and fuzzy now. --- ## AMY No. --- ## BETH Alright. We’ll be downstairs if you need us. --- ## JO Imps and elves and princes and princesses! --- ## MEG It’s just the sort of thing you write about! Did you like it? --- ## JO Perfect play. --- ## MEG Laurie is kind to have taken us. --- ## JO Yes. Well he’s a good chap. --- ## MEG Yes. --- ## JO The fairy queen was beautiful. I want a fairy queen in my stories. --- I think she can get Sir Hugo out of his current scrape with the witch. --- ## MEG Well, I’m going to bed. --- ## JO I always mean to go to bed, and then I stay up all night writing. --- I have so many ideas! Late at night, Meg, I have absolute fits of writing. --- And I give myself up to it with entire abandon. --- My imaginary world is full of friends as real and dear to me as any in the real world. --- ## MEG You will be a writer, Jo. I know it. --- ## JO I hope so. I don’t know if I’m any good. --- ## MEG What? But- --- ## JO I know. I write all the time, and I don’t know if I’m any good. Isn’t that funny? But I want it, Meg. --- I want it to be good. --- ## MEG Jo. You will be a writer. --- ## JO I hope you’re right. I want to publish it. Then I could buy you things, Meg! --- I can get you new lace gloves whenever you want! --- ## MEG Get yourself gloves! Or stop drinking coffee. --- ## JO If I stopped eating and drinking everything I spilled I would be down to dry bread and water. --- Plus, father will be proud. --- ## MEG Of what? --- ## JO My book. --- ## MEG Of course he will be. --- ## JO Do you... --- ## MEG Yes, I know so. He’ll absolutely beam when he comes home from the war to his published authoress. --- ## JO No, do you know where it is? --- ## MEG Where is what? --- ## JO My book! --- ## MEG Where did you leave it? --- ## JO Here. Beth? Amy? --- ## BETH Did you have just a magical time? Were the lights bright, did they make your eyes tired? Were the actresses lovely? --- ## JO There was a fairy princess, Beth! You’ll see her when you go next week with Amy and Hannah. --- Her curls are so, so bountiful, abundant, they were... beautiful. --- ## BETH Your hair is beautiful. --- ## JO Ha, my hair is my ONE beauty. No, she’s the most beautiful creature I have ever seen. --- I want to write her into my story. --- ## BETH Sir Hugo and the fairy princess! --- ## JO That’s-- I want to but I can’t find my manuscript. Has anyone taken my book? --- ## BETH No. --- ## MEG Amy? --- ## AMY (silence) --- ## JO Amy? Do you have it? --- ## AMY (silence) --- ## JO Amy, you’ve got it! --- ## AMY No I haven’t! --- ## JO You know where it is then! --- ## AMY No I don’t! --- ## JO That’s a fib! --- ## AMY It is not! I haven’t got it! --- ## JO You know something about it. Tell me! Tell me or I’ll make you! --- ## MEG Josephine, stop! --- ## AMY I burnt it! I burnt it up. --- ## JO You burnt it up? My little book? Amy I, have been working on it for months. --- I-I was hoping to have finished it before father got home-from fighting. --- Did you really? Did you really burn it up? --- ## AMY Yes I did! --- I told you I would make you pay. --- ## MEG Oh, Amy. --- ## JO You are wicked. I’ll never write it again. And I’ll never forgive you. --- ## MEG Amy. Jo’s book was the pride of her heart. She wanted to get it published, and it was good enough to publish. --- But she was writing it for father. --- Amy, look at me. I know you miss father. I hear you crying sometimes late at night, did you know that? --- And when Beth is deciding what piece to play next on the piano. --- And she mumbles while she’s looking through sheet music about what she thinks father would most like to hear. --- And she chooses accordingly. --- But I’ve never heard Jo cry or mumble. She put all her tears and thoughts for him into her writing. --- She thought about how proud he would be to read her work someday when he returns home safely. --- And I know all that because I also think about him out there without us. --- I’m scared to death we may never see him again. --- And Amy, the only thing that makes those thoughts bearable is how much I love my sisters. --- You have to make this right, Amy. We’re all we have. --- ## AMY I’m sorry, Jo. --- #### (ice skating sounds) --- ## LAURIE I’ll skate up around the first bend and see if it’s alright. --- ## JO Why should you get to go scout out the ice? --- ## LAURIE Because I’m the gentleman and you’re the lady. --- ## JO Ha, so you say. You’re just scared you will lose again. --- You want to get a good look at the ice before we race. --- ## LAURIE That’s funny, I remember you losing. --- ## JO Yesterday I beat you by a nose three times in a row. --- ## LAURIE Did we decide that was true? Because I seem to recall being undefeated all Winter. --- It’s my superior masculine strength. And natural affinity for ice skating. --- ## JO You’re a rascal. I’ll go scout the ice to make sure it’s safe. --- ## LAURIE Truly, as a gentleman, I think it should be me. It’s been warming up. --- I’m honestly worried it might get a little thin in spots. --- ## AMY Jo! --- ## JO Well that settles it, I’m coming too. --- ## LAURIE It really may not be safe. --- ## JO We’re just going to have to both drown as gentlemen then. --- ## AMY I’m coming, too! Slow down! Jo! Laurie! Wait! --- #### (ice cracks) --- ## AMY Jo! Jo! --- ## JO Amy! --- ## LAURIE Hang on, Amy! --- ## JO Amy! I’m sorry, Amy. --- ## AMY I’m sorry I burned your book! --- ## JO No, don’t think about that, oh my Amy, I should have forgiven you, I almost lost you. --- ## AMY You have to write it again. --- ## JO I’ll write it again, I was always going to write it again. I’m so wicked. --- Amy, I’m so sorry I didn’t forgive you, and I almost lost you. --- ## AMY But your writing, it means so much-- --- ## JO Not compared to my sisters. I can never lose my sisters. --- ## JO Gentlemen, Gentlmen! Come to order. Orderrr, I say. --- I hearby begin our reading of the latest issue of The Pickwick Portfolio with my exulted congratulations to all the contributors. --- Present, of course, the rosy Mr. Tracy Tupman, occasionally known as one Ms. Beth March, hereby known exclusively as Mr. Tupman, and Mr. Nathaniel Winkle, occasionally known as Ms. Amy March, hereby known exclusively as Mr. Winkle. --- Not present is the illustrious Mr. Samuel Pickwick, being unable to join us as she is spending her fortnight holiday at Sallie Moffat’s where she is no doubt having a delightful time attending several balls. --- ## BETH Presiding over her space is Joanna. Who is recovering from a torn seam. --- ## JO And then, of course, there’s me, formerly referred to as Jo, but hereafter Mr. August Snodgrass. --- I should like to begin with a reading of my own contribution, A Poetical Ode to our fine newspaper: --- Again we meet to celebrate With Badge and solemn rite, Our fifty-second anniversary, in Pickwick Hall tonight. --- We all are here in perfect health, One gone from our small band; --- Again we see each well-known face, And press each friendly hand. --- ## AMY Gentlemen! Our Mr. Tupman has, this week, written a short story! --- ## BETH Oh, no, mine is no good! --- ## JO Come on now, Beth! --- ## AMY Mr. Tupman. --- ## JO Mr. Tupman, it’s delightful that you have tried your hand at a story! --- As one author to another, I would greatly appreciate hearing your work! --- ## BETH It’s really not very good. --- ## AMY The History of a Squash: --- Once upon a time a farmer planted a little seed in his garden, and after a while it sprouted and became a vine, and bore many squashes. --- One day in October, he picked one and took it to market where it was purchased by a little girl in a brown hat and blue dress. --- ## JO Intriguing beginning. It reminds me of Jack and the Beanstalk. --- ## AMY I know, I hope something magical happens. --- ## JO Perhaps this type of squash is a particular favorite of dragons and the little girl will have to ward off the beasts from her own doorstep. --- ## AMY Or an old woman cursed a prince to remain a squash until someone tries to cook him. --- And then he’ll turn back into a man, and he’ll fall immediately, desperately in love with the little girl. --- And he’ll marry her and give her a hundred dresses! --- ## JO Read on, Amy, I want to find out. --- ## AMY The little girl lugged it home, cut it up, and boiled it in the big pot; mashed some of it, with salt and butter, for dinner; --- And to the rest she added a pint of milk, two eggs, four spoons of sugar, nutmeg, and some crackers; --- Put it in a deep dish and baked it till it was brown; --- and the next day it was eaten. --- ...The End. --- Well. Nothing I thought was going to happen happened. --- ## BETH I told you it wasn’t very good. --- ## JO No, Beth! --- ## AMY Mr. Tupman. --- ## JO No, Mr. Tupman, it’s a valiant first effort. The idea of being a writer is to release your imagination. --- Don’t write about home. No one wants to hear about home. --- ## BETH I suppose not. --- ## JO Someday I’ll publish my stories in a real newspaper. --- ## AMY Do it now. --- ## BETH Your work is good enough for a real paper. --- ## JO No, I– ## AMY Yes! --- ## BETH Send your stories to a real newspaper! --- ## BETH/AMY Real Newspaper! Real Newspaper! Real Newspaper! --- ## JO No! No one-- I can’t, no one knows who Josephine March is yet, they’ll think I’m just some silly girl. --- ## AMY You could lie. --- ## JO What are you saying, you little renegade? --- ## AMY I’m saying that they don’t have to get the story from Josephine March, do they, Mr. Snodgrass? --- ## JO Ha, oh no. --- ## BETH Mr. August Snodgrass... --- ## JO You’re both a great deal more conniving than I give you credit for, you know? Oh, it’s a capital idea! --- ## AMY I wish Meg were here. I’m sure she would agree. --- ## BETH She’s probably having a lovely time. --- ## AMY Without us, yes. --- ## JO It is hard to get larks without her here. --- ## AMY Don’t say ‘Larks!’ --- #### (time passes, musical interlude) --- ## JO It’s good to have you back. Secret late night elder sisters meeting? --- ## MEG Oh Jo, I’m such a fool. --- ## JO Meg? --- ## MEG They’re all so beautiful, you know? --- They have so many dresses, the other girls, they never have stains on their gloves, and their shoes never sprain their ankles. --- ## JO I thought you looked smart in your best dress. --- ## MEG I looked shabby, Jo. Among all those people. I could hear the girls giggling about me. --- ## JO Worthless ninnies. They’re all just jealous because they aren’t half so pretty as you, or kind, or good. --- ## MEG I let them dress me up for the ball. Belle Gardiner gave me this ridiculous long silk gown. --- ## JO Silk? --- ## MEG Yes, I know. That isn’t the only reason I shouldn’t have worn it. --- It was so low around my neck. --- They tied me into a corset, I could hardly breath. But then everyone wanted to dance with me and give me champagne. --- There is charm about fine clothes that attracts a certain class of people. --- And I, it’s funny Jo, I thought of our times up here. --- Doing your plays, and I imagined you had given me a part to play and it was the part of a lady. --- And so when I flirted, and fanned myself, and accepted another glass of wine I was just acting. --- But then I overheard Mrs. Moffat say that her son Ned was very taken with me and that the young Laurence boy was, too. --- And that it would be the best thing for our poor family. --- ## JO Laurie was there? --- ## MEG Yes. --- ## JO Did he shield you from these monsters? I hate them speculating about you like you’re some prize pig to be sold off. --- ## MEG He tried, but, all he did was tell me to stop drinking Champagne because it would give me a headache, and tell me my dress didn’t make me look like myself. --- But the truth is, it’s nice to be praised and admired. And I can’t help saying that I liked it. --- ## JO That’s perfectly natural. --- Laurie should apologize to you for treating you like you’re not allowed to enjoy yourself. --- I will give you all the fine things, Meg, I will. Someday. --- ## MEG I wish I had behaved more sensibly. --- ## JO Nonsense. I’m sure you were splendid. They all just sound like a bunch of rotten people. --- ## MEG At least Mr. Brooke didn’t accompany Laurie, I would have been mortified if he saw me behave that way. --- ## JO Laurie’s tutor? Ha, why? Are you afraid of dusty Mr. Brooke? --- ## MEG No! I couldn’t be afraid of him. He is so kind. I would hate to do anything embarrassing in front of him, is all. --- ## JO Ah. --- ## MEG What is it, Jo? --- ## JO It’s nothing. It’s nothing. It’s just, it’s a new thing for you to be talking about admiration and lovers and that sort of thing. --- I feel as if, during this fortnight you--grew up. Amazingly. --- #### (spring music transition) --- ## JO I wish I was a horse. --- ## LAURIE You’re not? --- ## JO Stop it. --- ## LAURIE Because you certainly look like a horse. --- ## JO I do not look like a horse. --- ## LAURIE Sure you do. Right down to your hooves. --- ## JO No! I mean I wish I was a horse so I could run for miles in this splendid air. --- ## LAURIE Well, run for miles then because I assumed you were a horse. What do you think you are? A girl? --- ## JO Yes. Even though I wish I wasn’t. --- ## LAURIE A horse or a girl? --- ## JO A girl, Laurie. --- ## LAURIE What would you rather be? --- ## JO A man. --- ## LAURIE Why would you ever want to be one of those? --- ## JO Lot’s of reasons. I wouldn’t be stuck at home, for one, I could be fighting with father. --- ## LAURIE You’re safe at home, though, Jo. --- ## JO Or, I could use my own name when I sent the newspaper a story. --- ## LAURIE What have we here? --- ## JO You’ve missed a lot around here, Laurie! --- ## LAURIE Jo, did you send the paper your stories? --- ## JO Only a few of them. --- ## LAURIE That’s capital, Jo! That’s great! --- ## JO I haven’t heard back yet. --- ## LAURIE They’ll want to publish them. --- ## JO No, it’s not likely. --- ## LAURIE No, they will, Jo! Your stories are exquisite. --- ## JO I hope so. But I don’t know. --- I would love to open up the paper. --- And pretend I was just reading some other author’s work aloud to my sisters. --- And only tell them it was mine after I’d finished. --- ## LAURIE You’re absolutely wicked. --- ## JO I’d like to see you resist doing the same thing. --- ## JO It’s a secret, don’t tell. Please./ Please. ## LAURIE /I won’t, Jo. I won’t. --- Seeing as we’re sharing secrets, I have to confess, I think Meg may have an admirer. --- ## JO I think she has twenty. --- ## LAURIE Well, I think she has an admirer in Mr. Brooke. I see him get distracted if he spies her through a window. --- ## JO I wish I was more surprised by that, but some time back she mentioned him, too. --- ## AMY Jo! Laurie! You have to come back home. --- ## JO What is it? --- ## AMY Mother received a telegram. She has to go away immediately! --- ## JO Amy, what is it? Is it Father? --- ## MEG Dear Marmee, All your little women are well at home. “The Home Front troops are in fine condition” as Laurie says. --- And we were thrilled to receive your letter that father is recovering from his wounds so nicely. --- It was very kind of Mr. Brooke to escort you to the war hospital. --- His kindness has been something of note to me. Several times. Often even. --- We are all trying to keep brave faces, Marmee. --- But we are waiting for the day you and father return home safely. Beth, in particular, holds a candle for you both. --- ## BETH Dearest Marmee, Even though you are away I make sure all my little duties are done faithfully. --- I read every morning and try to be good all day. I sing myself to sleep with father’s tune. --- Although, sometimes my heart gets very heavy. --- I try not to let the others see, because we are all trying to stay strong. --- Meg says that’s very important. So when it’s too much--when it’s too much for me to hide-- --- I go up to your room, I stay very quiet so no one can hear me. --- And I go into your closet where your calico robe is hanging. --- And I, you’re going to think I sound silly, but I press my nose into the fabric. It smells like you. --- And if I close my eyes very tight, I can imagine you are right there. --- That you have come home, and you are hugging me. --- But I don’t want you to think that it’s all sad. --- There are so many little mysteries. I think something odd is happening with Jo and Laurie. --- ## JO My Precious Marmee, Three Cheers for father! I must tell you that I came near having a quarrel with Laurie. --- He was laying about the house, and I said he was being lazy, and he was offended. --- I was right, but he marched home, said he wouldn’t come again until I begged pardon, but I declared I would not. --- I thought he would come beg pardon, because, as I said, I was right. --- But he’s so proud and we didn’t speak to each other all day. --- So I resolved to be the bigger person and not let the sun set on MY anger. --- But on my way to his house the strangest thing happened, Marmee, I met Laurie at the gate! --- He was coming to apologize. We both had the same idea at the same time, isn’t that funny? --- ## BETH Come to think of it, something odd is happening with Amy and Laurie, as well. --- ## AMY Ma Chere Mama, Laurie is not as respectful as he ought to be now that I am almost in my teens. --- He calls me “chick.” And he hurts my feelings by talking French very fast every time I say “Merci” or “Bon jour.” --- ## MEG All my Love, Meg. --- ## JO With Love, Topsy-Turvey Jo. --- ## AMY Your Affectionate Daughter, Amy Curtis March. --- ## BETH Dear Marmee, I have not forgotten our duty to the poor. Everyone else has been busy keeping the household together- --- But I have been bringing bread, and milk, and linen and things every day for the Hummel family. --- But Marmee, the baby got sick, and I didn’t know what to do for her, she just got sicker and sicker. Until Mrs. Hummel went for the doctor. --- I stayed home with the children. The baby was in my lap. --- I thought she was asleep, but all of a sudden she gave a little cry and trembled, and then lay very still. --- I tried to warm her feet, and one of the other children tried to give her some milk. --- But Marmee, I knew she was dead. --- The doctor said it was Scarlet Fever. Marmee, I feel so strange. --- ## AMY They’re sending me away. Meg and Jo had the fever when they were babies, but I never had it. Laurie! They’re sending me away. --- ## LAURIE Bless your heart. It’s to keep you well. If you stay here with Beth... you don’t want to be sick, do you? --- ## AMY No. --- ## LAURIE Scarlet Fever is no joke, Amy. --- ## AMY But it’s dull at Aunt March’s. --- ## LAURIE It won’t be dull. I will come every day. I will take you away. We’ll go driving and walking every day. --- ## AMY Promise? --- ## LAURIE I promise. --- ## AMY Will you take me out trotting on the wagon with your pony? --- ## LAURIE On my honor as a gentleman. --- ## AMY Promise? --- ## LAURIE Promise. --- ## AMY An will you bring me back the minute Beth is well? --- ## LAURIE The identical minute. --- ## AMY Do you promise me? --- ## LAURIE I promise you. --- ## JO & MEG 🎵 Let us pause in life's pleasures and count its many tears/ While we all sup sorrow with the poor 🎵 --- 🎵 There's a song that will linger forever in our ears/ Oh Hard times come again no more 🎵 --- 🎵 Tis the song, the sigh of the weary Hard times, hard times, come again no more 🎵 --- 🎵 Many days you have lingered around my cabin door 🎵 --- 🎵 Oh hard times come again no more 🎵 --- ## LAURIE What is it? Is Beth worse? --- ## JO The doctor has told us... --- ## LAURIE What? What has he said? --- ## JO The doctor has told us we should send for mother. --- ## LAURIE Oh Jo, is it as bad as that? --- ## JO Laurie, she doesn’t know us. And there’s no one to help us with Mother and Father gone. --- Even God seems so far away. Laurie, I can’t find Him. --- ## LAURIE I’m here. I’m here. It’ll be alright. Hold on to me, Jo. --- ## JO The good, dear people always die. --- ## LAURIE No Jo, no, no, she won’t die. Poor thing, you’re worn out. She won’t die. --- Here, let me take care of you. --- ## JO You are a good doctor, Laurie. How can I repay you? --- ## LAURIE I’ll send my bill by and by. --- Do you want to hear some good news? --- ## JO Oh yes, what is it? --- ## LAURIE I already telegraphed your mother. --- ## JO Laurie! --- ## LAURIE She’ll be here tonight. --- ## JO Laurie! Oh Laurie! Thank you! Thank you! --- Oh. Oh, don’t. I didn’t mean to-- --- ## LAURIE I’m sorry-- --- ## JO No, don’t be, I was just so happy you sent for Marmee. Thank you! --- ## LAURIE It was my pleasure. --- ## JO You’re an angel. How can I ever thank you? --- ## LAURIE You could fly at me like that again, I rather liked it. --- ## JO Bah! You’re a rogue! Go bother someone else! --- ## AMY AS THE FAIRY QUEEN Sir Hugo, with immense gratitude for your unfaltering gallantry. --- I give you all the stores of magic in my fairy kingdom. --- ## MEG AS SIR HUGO My Fairy Queen, I am humbled by your generosity. --- And I would be a fool not to accept your gift. --- But I am afraid all the magic your kingdom holds cannot come near giving me what I desire most. --- ## AMY But my powers are everything I have to give you. --- ## MEG Not everything. Dear, beautiful Queen of the Fairies. I have admired your strength, your beauty, your impeccable character-- --- For many days and nights as we have traveled together banishing evils from our lands. And I am afraid, I have fallen in love with you. --- ## AMY Oh Hugo. --- ## MEG I love you. Please my queen, do me this great honor, and give me your hand in marriage. --- ## AMY Hugo! --- ## MEG It’s what I desire. It is what I desire more than magic. --- ## AMY Yes Sir Hugo I-- I--oh. --- ## MEG What is wrong, my queen, my love? --- ## AMY My magic, it wanes! I feel weak. --- ## MEG My darling! --- ## AMY It can only be for one reason. It must be that-- --- ## JO AS THE WITCH It must be that I, The Witch Hagar, has returned from the grave to murder you both! --- ## AMY (screams) --- ## BETH (screams) --- ## MEG Stop! Beth, you can watch but you can’t get too involved like that. --- ## JO You know what the doctor said about your heart. --- ## AMY You’re still unwell. --- ## JO So you have to be calm, even when you’re watching the play. --- ## BETH I know, I know. I just thought the witch was very frightening. --- ## MEG It’s time to stop playing anyway. --- ## JO Why? --- ## MEG It’s just time, Jo, it’s nearly afternoon. --- ## JO So? --- ## MEG Maybe some of us have things to do, Jo. --- ## JO What? What do you have to do? You told me you would help me workshop my new script. --- ## MEG We can continue later. --- ## JO I don’t understand where you are going. --- ## AMY Mr. Brooke is coming to take her for a walk. Out on the lane, where lovers walk with their arms laced together/ --- ## MEG /Amy! How dare/ you! ## JO /Good work, Amy, I’ll buy you a pickled lime. --- ## AMY He wrote and asked if he could take her this morning and Mother and Father gave their consent. --- ## JO You can’t be serious, Meg, dusty old Brooke? --- ## MEG Jo, he’s a lovely man. --- He was so much help to Marmee accompanying her to the hospital for father, and back here for Beth. --- ## JO He’s stuffy, and boring. And he’s poor, and too old for you anyway. --- ## MEG Mr. Brooke may be the reason Father and Beth survived. --- Because they wouldn’t have without Marmee, and she wouldn’t have been there without John. --- ## JO Who? --- ## MEG Without Mr. Brooke. --- ## JO You call him John? --- ## MEG Yes. I call him John now. We fell into a way of doing so and he likes it. --- ## JO Meg! That sort of familiarity will only encourage him. --- ## MEG Please don’t plague me, Jo. --- ## JO I’m plaguing you? Meg, you are not like yourself a bit lately. --- You seem so far away from me. From us. You won’t even stay to finish the play. --- ## MEG We can finish later, I don’t see why you are upset. --- ## JO Because! You are too busy spending time with someone who you have no cause to be spending time with. --- ## MEG Jo, I think I have some cause. I have been meaning to tell you-- --- ## JO Father said you were still too young to be married, so I don’t know what could possibly be the cause. --- ## MEG Well, you’re sixteen now. Quite old enough to be my confidant, and it may be helpful to you by and by. --- ## JO Helpful how? --- ## MEG When you have your own affairs of this sort. --- ## JO I don’t mean to have my own affairs of this sort. --- ## MEG What about Laurie? --- ## JO Don’t be disgusting. --- ## MEG Have it your way. --- ## JO What do you mean to say to him if he proposes? --- ## MEG Just that, he is very kind, but I agree with father and I am too young to enter into an engagement. --- An engagement at present. So we should continue to just be--be friends. --- ## JO Oh that’s fine, that’s fine, Meg. Very cold. You’ll never say it. --- ## MEG Jo, yes I will. --- ## JO No you won’t, you’re far too sweet. --- ## MEG You’re being ridiculous. --- ## JO What if he goes on like a rejected lover in a book. Oh Meg, my darling, little Meg, how you have broken my heart! --- ## MEG Stop it! You’re being completely improper. And you’re disrespecting Mr. Brooke. --- ## JO You mean John? --- ## MEG Yes, I mean John. --- ## JO Admit it, you want to say yes, you might even say yes, even though father told you not to. --- ## MEG I do want to say yes, and I might! --- ## JO Beth just got well. --- ## MEG Yes, I know. --- ## JO Father just came home. --- ## MEG Yes. --- ## JO So why would you want to leave us now? --- ## AMY I don’t want Meg to leave. --- ## MEG I’m not going anywhere, Amy. Why don’t you take Beth and go play downstairs. --- You would feel the same if you liked anyone that much and he liked you. --- ## JO Codswallop! --- I don’t care to go philandering around. I’d feel like a fool and so should you. --- ## MEG Jo-- --- ## JO No, go marry him, if that’s what you want! Go, abandon us. --- ## MEG I’m not abandoning you, Jo! I’m just-- I’m just growing up. --- I’m sorry, but I can’t be spending all my time playing at fairy princesses and witches and heroes anymore. --- You will have to start growing up soon, too, you know. --- Maybe it won’t be marriage, for you, maybe you’re right, but it will have to be something, Jo, --- And I suggest you think about what that something is! --- ## JOHN I’m so sorry, I really apologize, I came in, I heard voices up here. --- ## JO Hello, Mr. Brooke/ ## MEG /Hello, John. --- ## JOHN I came to get my umbrella. I mean, that is-- to see if your father finds himself well today. --- ## JO It’s very well, and he’s in the rack. --- ## JOHN He’s in the--? --- ## JO I’ll get father and tell your umbrella you’re here. I mean. I’ll get your umbrella and tell-- --- I had it switched a bit--Traitor. --- ## MEG Mother would like to see you, shall we go find her? --- ## JOHN No, don’t-- don’t go. Are you afraid of me, Meg? --- ## MEG How can I be afraid of you when you have been so kind? To father, to mother, to me. --- I only wish I knew how to thank you for it. --- ## JOHN Shall I tell you how? --- ## MEG Oh no, please don’t. I’d rather not. --- ## JOHN I won’t trouble you. I only want to know if you care for me a little, Meg. Meg. Meg, I love you so much. --- ## MEG I don’t know. --- ## JOHN Will you... try to find out? --- ## MEG John, I’m too- You are very kind. You are so very kind, and lovely, and kind... --- But I agree with father and I am too young to enter into.. --- So we should continue to just be--be... I’m too young, father says I’m too-- I’m too young. --- ## JOHN I’ll wait. Is that alright? Perhaps you could learn to like me. --- I could teach you to, I love to teach. It would be easier than teaching Laurie German. --- ## MEG Oh John, you don’t have to teach me such a thing. I already know how to like you. I know very well. --- ## LAURIE Sir Hugo grasped blindly at the stones about his person. --- Wet and cold the rock pinned his body, ensconcing him like a coffin in the darkness. --- ‘The witch has trapped me well this time,’ he thought, but his mind turned to his beloved fairy queen. --- And he knew only one truth, he must escape! --- Continued in the following edition. --- Smashing, Jo! I never grow tired of reading your stories in the paper! --- You know, I have grandfather clip them and send them to me at school. --- I have a whole collection. The published works of August Snodgrass! --- ## JO It’s good to see you home, Laurie, you old rascal! --- ## LAURIE Well, there was a certain event I wasn’t planning to miss. --- But you don’t seem very festive. What’s the matter? --- ## JO You can’t know how hard it is for me to give up Meg. --- ## LAURIE You don’t give her up. You only go halves. --- ## JO It can never be the same. --- You must promise to behave well today, no pranks. --- And don’t say funny things when we ought to look sober. --- And don’t look at me during the ceremony. You’ll make me laugh. --- I’m trying not to ruin everything. --- ## LAURIE You won’t see me. You’ll be crying so hard that the fog round you will blur me out. --- ## JO I never cry. Unless for some great affliction. --- ## LAURIE You mean like some fellow going away to college? --- ## JO Don’t be a peacock. I only moaned a little. --- ## LAURIE “Laurie, I wish, I wish, I wish you wouldn’t go!” --- ## JO I don’t sound like that! --- ## LAURIE That’s exactly how you sounded, “Laurie, I wish, I wish” --- ## JO Stop it, or I won’t be glad to see you home! --- ## LAURIE I saw Amy when I came in. My goodness, she’s getting entirely too handsome for a young lady. --- ## JO She’s just a child, Laurie. --- ## LAURIE No Jo, she’s squarely in her teens. Her art is marvelous, as well! --- I caught her putting the finishing touches on a painting for Meg. Her brow was knotted. She’s so serious. --- ## JO Yes, a little artíste. --- ## LAURIE She’s good. She’s pretty. She’s accomplished. It’s no wonder all the young men in Concord are enamoured by her. --- ## JO Would you stop it? Meg’s wedding has turned us all silly. We talk of nothing these days but lovers and absurdities. --- I hate it. I don’t want anyone else marrying in this family for years to come. --- ## LAURIE You’ll go next, Jo. --- ## JO Nobody will want me. --- ## LAURIE No, you’ll go next, Jo, and we’ll all be left lamenting. --- ## JO There should always be one old maid in the family, and it’s me. I’m going to be the old maid. --- ## LAURIE Some gent won’t be able to stop himself from marrying you.. --- ## JO I don’t like that sort of thing. --- ## LAURIE Mark my words, Jo, you’ll go next. --- ## AMY You do look just like our own dear Meg, only so sweet and lovely that I should hug you if it wouldn’t crumple your dress. --- ## MEG Please hug me and kiss me! I want a great many crumples of that sort put in my dress today. --- ## JO The Pickwick Portfolio will be in a shabby state without our own Mr. Pickwick here to be in charge. --- ## AMY And you won’t catch me playing Sir Hugo, I’ve become attached to the fairy queen. --- ## BETH We’ll miss you here, Meg, at dinner, and breakfast, and playing in the attic. --- ## MEG Oh my sisters. It’s just a change, but it doesn’t have to be bad. --- You must come to our little house for dinner. I’m going to have it done up so nice. --- ## BETH Yes, I can’t wait, especially when I’m better, I do hope to be feeling better soon. --- ## MEG I will... I will miss you all a great deal. --- ## JO We’ll miss you as well, Meg. --- ## AMY Very much. --- ## BETH Even Joanna will be thinking of you. --- ## JO Alright, alright! By Jupiter, we can’t get too sappy before we’ve even begun! Come now. --- ## BETH Oh, what a face. What is the matter, Jo? --- ## JO The critics have responded to my novel. --- ## BETH Well they must have loved it. --- ## JO Some of them. --- ## BETH And the others? --- ## JO The opposite. --- I’m so confused. I don’t know if I have written a promising book or broken the ten commandments. --- ## BETH You have written a promising book. --- ## MEG Steps to making the most of your garden if it only produces one thing and that one thing is currants. --- A perfect home, run by a diligent wife, must have shelves of homemade preserves and jams. --- How else will her husband know she truly loves him without this homey touch to his palace? --- Step one, hire a boy to pick all the currants. --- Excellent now you have eighteen buckets of currants. Wonderful. So many currants. --- Step two, get the supplies. You'll need as much sugar as you have currants, and you have so many currants. --- So now there are bags of sugar everywhere. Fantastic, everything is perfect. --- Step three, do not get daunted. --- It may be an ambitious task, but you are an ambitious woman. You do not have to call on your mother. You can do this. --- You are capable! --- ## BETH This one says, ‘An exquisite book full of truth, beauty, and earnestness.’ --- ## JO Yes, I know, but this one says, ‘The theory of the book is bad. Full of morbid fancies and unnatural characters.’ --- ## BETH Perhaps he just doesn’t like witches. --- ## JO Or perhaps I just can’t write! I do wish I could do something decent just once. I imagine Meg is making her little home just perfect as always. --- ## MEG Step four, very simply rinse the eighteen buckets of currants, put them into giant pots, add water, cook them until they're soft and wilted. --- Then step five, obviously, weigh the cooked currants and add a pound of sugar for each pound. --- Step six, don't get juice on your perfect apron. --- Step seven, don't worry about getting juice on your perfect apron! Everything is perfect, even juice, and this is easy and fun! --- Step eight, don't think about how Marmee never gets juice on her apron. --- ## BETH Oh, Jo. --- ## JO You should never read reviews. --- ## BETH I’m sure real criticism is an author’s best education. --- ## JO And I’m sure, you’re entirely too optimistic. --- ## MEG Step nine, mix the five pots of currants and sugar and water. Keep mixing. --- Step ten, just keep mixing it. Soon it will be frothy puree. It's not always going to be this purple soup. It's going to be perfect. --- Step eleven, just keep mixing. Any moment now, the soup will be jam, everything is going wonderfully, if you just keep mixing. --- Step twelve, keep mixing and resist the urge to run to your mother's house. --- You did everything right, and all these pots are going to be jam any moment. Step thirteen. Step thirteen. Do not start crying. --- In the event that your husband just sent word he is bringing a colleague home for dinner, and you are still mixing purple currant soup that is not jam-- --- that is supposed to be jam and is not, then you may amend step thirteen and begin crying uncontrollably. --- Step fourteen is to abandon the jam! Just abandon it! It's just purple sugar soup, and you haven't made anything for dinner, and your husband will be home soon-- --- and the floor is covered in purple, and your apron is covered in purple, and your hair is covered in purple, and all the pots just have purple sugar soup in them. --- And absolutely nothing is perfect! --- ## JO Everything Meg does is perfect. --- ## BETH I hope she remembers to just let the jam set, if she stirs it too much it will just be mushy soup. --- ## JO Oh, she’ll remember. --- ## BETH Yes, I’m sure she will. --- ## JO Beth, have you been crying? --- ## BETH Oh. --- ## JO Here I am going on about myself. Are you troubled? --- ## BETH Yes, Jo. --- ## JO Tell me what is wrong. Is it that Amy is away? I miss her too, but we’ll see her when she comes home from France. Wouldn’t it comfort you to tell me what is wrong? --- ## BETH Yes, I’ll tell you by and by. --- ## JO Is the pain better now? --- ## BETH It’s--it’s much better. Thank you. --- ## JO Really, Beth, are you still so ill? --- ## BETH We should get some sleep, Jo. --- ## JO I can never sleep these days. --- ## BETH Are you unwell, Jo? --- ## JO Not exactly. I want something new. I feel-- restless. I want to be a better writer, but I won’t do that here. Sitting in this attic, staring at a newspaper. --- I want to be seeing, doing, learning more than I am. I need stirring up. --- ## BETH Marmee’s friend, Mrs. Kirke, wrote from the boarding house she runs in New York. She needs a governess for her daughters. --- ## JO New York? New York City? Beth, that would be wonderful. That would be perfect. --- ## BETH But, Jo-- --- ## JO I shall see and hear new things, get new ideas, and I can bring home heaps of new material for the rubbish I write. --- ## BETH But, Jo-- --- ## JO Then the critics will have more to talk about. --- ## BETH But, Jo, I will miss you. --- ## JO Oh, it’ll be alright. I’ll send my adventures home in the mail by the volume. --- And speaking of volumes, I am thinking of writing a sequel to THE WITCH’s CURSE. This time, just as Sir Hugo thinks everything is well. --- The witch has finally been turned to stone and burried in the deep inner caves of the dark mountains, never to resurface. --- The villagers begin to tell stories of a stranger who comes cloaked in night, who drains the blood of his victims and leaves them dry and empty in the harsh light of morning. --- ## LAURIE Hail the conquering authoress! --- ## JO Laurie, go away, Beth will pet you, I’m busy. --- ## LAURIE No, Beth is not to be bothered by the likes of me. But you! You like that sort of thing. Unless you’ve suddenly lost your taste for it. Have you? Jo? Have you? Don’t hate your boy. --- ## JO “My boy?” That’s rich, “my boy.” Tell me, “my boy,” how many bouquets have you sent Miss Randall this week alone? --- ## LAURIE None. --- ## JO I don’t believe you. --- ## LAURIE No, none. She got engaged on Sunday, so I haven’t sent her any bouquets this week. I did send her two on Saturday, but that was last week. Now she’s engaged. --- ## JO I’m glad of it. --- It’s one of your foolish extravagances-- sending flowers and things to girls for whom you don’t care two pins. --- ## LAURIE Sensible girls, for whom I do care whole papers of pins, won’t let me send them “flowers and things,” so what can I do? --- ## JO You do flirt desperately, Laurie. --- ## LAURIE I would give anything if I could answer, “so do you.” --- ## JO I can’t flirt. I’ve tried. I’m too awkward. --- ## LAURIE Take lessons from Amy, she has a real talent for it. --- ## JO Yes she does. --- ## LAURIE I’m glad you can’t flirt. --- ## JO Why? --- ## LAURIE Some of the girls I know really do go on at such a rate. --- ## JO Ha, it doesn’t seem to stop you. How many times have you fallen in love since you’ve been off at college? --- ## LAURIE Too many to catalogue. I can tell you the rate, it was about once a month. --- ## JO Oh Laurie, this will never do. Go, go away. Go play the piano, I’m dying for some music. --- ## LAURIE I’d rather stay here, thank you. --- ## JO I thought you hated to be tied to a woman’s apron strings. --- ## LAURIE That all depends on the apron. --- ## JO Laurie, it won’t do. --- ## LAURIE Well, what I mean is, if the woman in the apron is someone I want to be tied to, then, you know, tie me to any apron. --- ## JO Laurie! I have news for you. --- ## LAURIE A new book? --- ## JO Perhaps. Soon. But for now I’ve decided-- I’ve decided to go to New York City. I have so much to experience, Laurie, I have so much to see and then write down. --- Sometimes I feel like I want to write down the whole world! But how can I write adventures if I don’t have any of my own. --- ## LAURIE You’re moving away? --- ## JO Yes, to New York. I’ll be back to visit. I’ll write. --- ## LAURIE Jo. --- ## JO No, Laurie. Please don’t. --- ## LAURIE No, Jo-- I’ve loved you ever since I’ve known you, Jo. Don’t go. Stay here. Stay here with me. Marry me. --- ## JO No, Laurie. You don’t want me. We would only quarrel. We’re too much alike. We’re too fond of freedom. We both have hot tempers. Strong wills. You don’t want me. --- ## LAURIE I do, Jo, I love you. I can’t help it. I’ve tried to show you, but you wouldn’t let me. I’ve waited for you, Jo, and never complained. For I hoped you would-- you would-- love me. Though, I’m not half good enough-- --- ## JO Yes you are. You are a great deal too good for me. Thank you. Thank you for being my friend. I am so proud of you. And so fond of you. --- But Laurie, I can’t love you as you want me to. I’ve tried, but I can’t. --- ## LAURIE Really? --- ## JO I’m sorry, Laurie, I’m so desperately sorry. --- ## LAURIE Keep your sorry’s, Jo! --- ## JO You said you fall in love all the time, you will love someone else. --- ## LAURIE Not like you. Not like this. I can’t love anyone else. --- ## JO Laurie. I can’t. --- ## LAURIE Go on, then, go away! Get out of here! But I will never forget you, Jo. Never. --- ## JO Yes, you will, you will love someone else. You’ll get over this after a while. You’ll find some girl who will adore you. --- ## LAURIE Are you finished? --- ## JO Yes. --- ## LAURIE Good. --- ## JO Except to say, I don’t think I will ever get married. --- ## LAURIE No, Jo, you think so now. But I know you, Jo. I know you. --- There will come a time when you will care for somebody, and you will love him tremendously. And you will live for him and you will die for him. And damn me if I have to stand by and watch. --- ## JO Alright yes! If someone comes along who makes me love him in spite of myself then I will live and die for him. But he’s not you, Laurie. I can’t make myself love you, Laurie. And I’ll never marry you. --- ## LAURIE Goodbye, Jo! --- ## JO Where are you going? --- ## LAURIE To the devil! --- ## BETH Dear Jo, Merry Christmas. It’s empty here without you. I’m empty here without you. --- No, I can’t write that... --- ## AMY Dear Beth, I’m so sorry I haven’t written home in a little while. I have been a tad distracted. --- France is really the best place to become a better artist. I study my art everyday, and I am getting better. I am. I am getting better. --- Here: I am including an illustration I did of a street scene, look at them all. --- Haughty English, Lively French, Sober Germans, Handsome Spaniards. Just all manner of people to know, and see, and draw! --- I’m trying to do one of the palm trees along the seaside, and the orange orchards in the distance on Christmas Day. --- Christmas in Nice doesn’t look the same as it did back in Concord, that’s for sure...It certainly doesn’t look picturesque in this awful painting! --- ## BETH Dear Jo, Merry Christmas. I’m trying to not be too sad, but I am lonely without you. I’m upset with myself about it, but everything is changing, and sometimes I am angry with you that you went away. --- Absolutely cannot write that. --- ## JO Dear Beth, I’m not a fine young lady travelling on the continent, like Amy, but I am going to write you a regular volume! I have heaps to tell you about New York! --- It’s big here. Everything is big. There are all manner of people, and I must confess I felt a trifle blue when I first arrived. --- I have published two stories in this odd little paper called The Weekly Volcano. --- It’s all blood and gore, really, Marmee would be scandalized. And! I am learning German, from a boarder here in the house. Don’t laugh when I tell you his name is-- --- ## BHAER Professor Bhaer. --- ## JO Can you imagine going through your life named “Bear?” --- But he’s darling. The children love him. They’re always playing with him. --- ## BHAER Good evening, Miss March, and how do you do? --- ## JO I’m well, but professor you have-- --- ## BHAER Ah ah! In German... --- ## JO Mher geht es gut, danke. --- ## BHAER I thought I would read some Schiller tonight. He does remind me of home. --- ## JO Oh yes? --- ## BHAER He has a few passages that remind me particularly of you. --- ## JO Really? --- ## BHAER Indeed. Do you know his argument on beauty? --- ## JO I can’t say I do. --- ## BHAER Oh, he took a very interesting view of beauty, I think you will like it. He believed beauty was freedom in appearance. He believed that we must experience this freedom in joy, and play, yes? --- “We shall never err, if we seek the ideal beauty of man through the same channels that he gratifies his impulse of play.” --- Do you agree? --- ## JO Yes, I suppose I do. --- ## BHAER I’m glad. I see such freedom in you, Miss March. --- ## JO Jo is fine. --- ## BHAER Jo. --- ## JO And I see a great deal of play in you. --- ## BHAER You do? --- ## JO Yes. Your choice of cap attire, for example. --- ## BHAER Oh! The children made it for me. I forgot it was on. --- ## BETH Dear Jo, Merry Christmas. I’ve been keeping a secret from you, Jo. --- I’ve tried to continue with my duties, but I’m selfish, Jo, I can’t help it. I need you, and I wish you would come home. --- And. I can’t write that. --- ## AMY Don’t give up! We can do this. Let’s try something else. --- Here is the Promenade des Anglais lined with hotels and villas. Lined...with perfect hotels and villas....lined with... --- Arrrrrrrg. It’s no use. But it’s fine. I can make you something else. I can draw you...Jo. --- ## LAURIE Thank you, Miss March. It is a beautiful drawing. And it looks just the way I remember her. --- ## AMY Laurie? --- ## BHAER Your German is improving. --- ## JO You’re a horrid liar. --- ## BHAER How you tease your poor teacher. Oh, Jo, I want to know such things. --- ## JO About me? --- ## BHAER Yes. Yes. I want to know things about my dear friend, --- ## JO Ask anything you want to know? --- ## BHAER You are a writer? --- ## JO Yes. I try to be. --- ## BHAER You must write beautiful things. --- ## JO Why do you say that? --- ## BHAER You are a beautiful spirit. --- ## JO No. --- ## BHAER You are! You are! Tell me, since I may ‘ask anything I want to know,’ tell me, what do you love? --- ## JO You want to know what I love? --- ## BHAER Yes. --- ## JO I love. I love. A quiet place for me to write late at night. --- I love, being interrupted by the trouble of having to find an unsoiled glove to wear to a party. --- I love whistling, and running, even though I know I am not supposed to. --- I love whispering secrets. I love the way the attic feels at home. It’s warm there, even when it’s cold. --- ## BHAER You see? You are beautiful. You must show me what you write. --- ## JO Oh. --- ## AMY What do you intend to do? --- ## LAURIE Smoke a cigarette if you will allow me. --- ## AMY How provoking you are, but I will allow you if you will let me put it in a sketch. --- ## LAURIE Naturally. --- ## AMY You look like the effigy of a young knight asleep on a tomb. --- ## LAURIE I wish I was. --- ## AMY What a foolish wish. You are so changed. --- ## LAURIE It’s alright. --- ## AMY I fancied you might have wasted money in Paris and lost your heart to some charming married Frenchwoman. --- Don’t stay over there in the sun; come, and lie on my lap here. --- ## LAURIE Do you have secrets to tell me. --- ## AMY No. --- ## LAURIE Boring. When do you begin your great work of art, Raphaella? --- ## AMY Never. --- ## LAURIE What? With so much energy and talent? --- ## AMY That’s just it. Talent isn’t genius, and no amount of energy can make it so. I want to be great or nothing. --- ## LAURIE What does “nothing” look like? --- ## AMY I suppose I will become an ornament to society. --- ## LAURIE You will need to get married for that. --- ## AMY Yes. --- ## LAURIE You’ll have a hundred men to chose from. You’re not already engaged, I hope. --- ## AMY No. --- ## LAURIE But you will be. If someone asks. --- ## AMY Very likely. --- ## LAURIE What a waste. --- ## AMY I wish you would rouse yourself a little. --- ## LAURIE Do it for me. --- ## AMY Stop. --- Do you know what I honestly think of you? --- ## LAURIE Pining to be told. --- ## AMY I despise you. --- ## LAURIE Why? --- ## AMY Because, with every chance for being good, useful and happy, you are faulty, lazy and miserable. Shall I go on? --- ## LAURIE Pray do. --- ## AMY Yes, selfish people always like to talk about themselves. --- ## LAURIE Am I selfish? --- ## AMY Yes, very. And instead of being the man you might and ought to be, you are only... --- Has Jo ruined you so badly? You talk to me jealously of marriage, but you do nothing. --- You know, I found you captivating from the first moment my sisters and I saw you through the window in the snow. --- That Christmas Day so many years back. --- All I have wanted was for you to turn your eyes away from Jo and see me. --- But if you will do nothing to be worthy of that love, then I will give it to someone who is willing to be. --- ## JO Did the children make you a new hat? --- ## BHAER Hm? Oh, yes, silly things. --- ## JO Are you dismayed by it? --- ## BHAER No, no. The hat is wonderful. Truly glorious hat. It’s what I find printed on the hat that is dismaying. --- ## JO Is that The Weekly Volcano? --- ## BHAER Yes. This trash. --- ## JO Oh. Do you think it’s so terrible. --- ## BHAER Yes. I hate to think of little ones reading this. I would sooner give boys gun powder to play with than these ridiculous ideas. --- ## JO They’re only silly. There’s a demand for sensational stories, people like to be entertained. --- ## BHAER There’s a demand for whiskey too, but I think respectable people like you or I would not want to sell it. --- ## JO No, I suppose not. --- ## BHAER If people knew what harm they did, sending stories like this out into the world. They poison the sugar plumb and let the small ones eat it. --- ## BHAER Listen,”The vampire sunk his fangs into the flesh of the young woman. Her hot, tempting blood bubbled over his teeth/ and he sucked at her in delight.” ## JO /“and he sucked at her in delight.” --- ## BHAER Jo? Have you read this? Well enough to know it by heart? --- ## JO I wrote it. --- ## BHAER You wrote it? --- ## JO I’ve always written sensational stories. Since I was a child. --- ## BHAER Oh, I see. You did not use your name, this says someone else’s name, a man’s name. --- ## JO Yes. --- ## BHAER Is that-- may I ask, is that because this story does not feel like it was written by you. --- ## JO These kinds of stories, these sensational stories, they bring in a good wage. --- ## BHAER Oh. --- ## JO It’s not easy being so poor. --- ## BHAER Yes, I know that, I know that very well. --- ## JO So, now you know. I’m sorry that I am so displeasing to you. --- ## BHAER No, Jo, I--I am surprised that this is what you choose to write. --- ## BETH Dear Jo, Merry Christmas. --- ## JO It’s what I write. --- ## BHAER But why? --- ## BETH Jo, I think I am ready to tell you what has been troubling me. --- ## BHAER I only mean. There is nothing here of the beautiful spirit I know. I am surprised you don’t write something about that woman. Whom I have come to care so very much for. The woman who loves cold days in a warm attic. --- ## JO I know, Bhaer, I’m not perfect. I have never been perfect. I’ve come to terms with that. --- ## BETH Jo? --- ## JO Not now, Beth. --- ## BHAER You don’t have to be perfect, Jo! I only want you to be happy. I think if you wrote something from you, from your beautiful spirit, you would be happy. --- ## JO Well, maybe I am not so beautiful after all. --- ## BETH Jo! --- ## JO What, Beth! --- ## BETH Stop for a minute! Just a minute! I have been trying to tell you that I need you. I need you, and you are so far away! I need you. And I think, I think, you should come home now, Jo. --- ## BETH I’m happy you came. --- ## JO Of course, don’t be stupid. Let’s get you well. --- ## BETH Not this time. --- ## JO Is this what has been troubling you? --- ## BETH Yes. I’m not getting better. --- ## JO Nonsense. Are you warm enough? We’ll get you some broth. --- ## BETH I’m not getting better. I gave up hoping a while ago. Before that, I tried to think my getting sicker was, just like a bad dream. A fantasy. But I saw you all so well and strong and full of happy plans. --- ## JO You will get well. You will have happy plans, too. --- ## BETH I’m not getting better. It’s like the tide, Jo, when it turns it goes slowly, but it cannot be stopped. --- ## JO Well, no. This tide must be stopped. Beth, you, you’re only nineteen. --- ## BETH I know. --- ## JO There’s so much more to-- to do together. --- ## BETH My Jo. My good, good Jo. Don’t be sad. I never intended to live long. I’m not like the rest of you. I never made plans about what I’d do when I grew up. --- I never thought of being married, like Meg, or Amy. Or being a great writer like you. --- ## JO Some great writer I turned out to be. I write rubbish for the rags. --- ## BETH You have greatness in you, Jo, and I am so proud of you, and the things I know you will do. I never thought of myself as wanting to be anywhere but home. I love home. I’ve never wanted to go away. --- But now I must. --- ## JO Beth, please, don’t say that. Please just stay. --- ## BETH I do wish I could stay. The hardest part is leaving all of you. Especially, especially you. --- ## JO Don’t leave me, Beth. I will miss you every day. Please, you don’t understand, I will miss you every day for the rest of my life. --- ## BETH It’s alright, Jo, it’s alright. --- ## JO No, it’s not alright. Please don’t go. --- ## BETH Oh, Jo. Try to understand. Do you love me? --- ## JO So, so much. I love you so much.e --- ## BETH Then I know I haven’t wasted my life. Jo, I am not afraid. Even though, I know I shall be homesick for you. Even in heaven. --- ## JO Please, don’t go, Beth. Stay. --- ## BETH My Jo. --- ## JO Beth. Stay. Beth? Stay here, please. Beth? Beth.. I will miss you, everyday. --- ## AMY Oh, Laurie, Laurie, I knew you would come to me. --- ## LAURIE I came the minute I heard. I wish I could say something to comfort you. --- ## AMY You needn’t say anything. This comforts me. --- ## LAURIE Alright. --- ## AMY It would be so comfortable to have you for a while. Can you stay? --- ## LAURIE If you want me. I wasn’t sure after last time we talked-- --- ## AMY I do. So much. --- ## LAURIE Then I can stay. You can have me for a little while, if that’s what you want. But I would like it, if you wanted to have me forever. --- ## AMY I want to have you forever. --- ## MEG Hello, Jo --- ## JO Oh. Hello. --- ## MEG I brought the children by, will you come down and eat something? I brought Currant Jam... it turned out perfect. --- ## JO Thank you, Meg. No, I’ll stay here. --- ## MEG Not well today? --- ## JO I miss her. --- ## MEG I know. --- ## JO I miss her so much. --- ## MEG Yes, I know. --- Marmee and Hannah said that you’ve taken to housework. They say you’re determined no one else should miss our lamb. --- ## JO I suppose. Someone has to do it now. --- ## MEG This can’t be what you want. You’re the dreaded Pirate Bartholomew! Sir Hugo! --- You can’t want to spend your life in this quiet house, devoted to... whatever humdrum things are going on. --- ## JO Someone has to do it. Look at you. Marriage turned out excellent for you. You’re a lovely blossom. You’re radiant. I’m a burr. --- ## MEG A burr? --- ## JO A prickly burr. --- ## MEG Chestnut Burrs are prickly on the outside, but silky soft on the inside... Jo, why don’t you write? That used to make you so happy. --- ## JO Thank you, Meg. But I’m just going to stay up here a while. --- ## MEG Alright. But... do something, though, Jo. --- ## JO Oh Beth, come back, come back. --- ## BETH Are you going to write this story into your book? --- ## JO Oh Beth, I’ve no heart to write and even if I had, no one cares for my things. --- ## BETH You must put it in your book! You’re such a wonderful writer! --- ## JO I hope so, it’s the only thing I’m good at. Can’t sew, or bake beautifully like you did. --- ## JO Beth. --- ## BETH I think you mean “Mr. Tupman.” --- ## JO Mr. Tupman. The idea of being a writer is to release your imagination. Don’t write about home. No one wants to hear about home. --- ## BETH I love home. --- ## AMY I don’t think it’s fair some girls have plenty of pretty things and other girls nothing at all. --- ## MEG I shall have a new ribbon for my hair, and Marmee will lend me her little pearl pin. --- ## BETH I go into your closet where your calico robe is hanging and I press me nose into the fabric. --- ## AMY Laurie picked you up and whisked you off your feet? Like a little helpless feather. --- ## MEG You will have to start growing up soon, too, you know. Maybe it won’t be marriage, for you, maybe you’re right, but it will have to be something, Jo, /and I suggest you think about what that something is! --- ## AMY /They’re sending me away. Meg and Jo had the fever when they were babies, but I never had it. --- ## BETH Oh, no, mine is no good! --- ## AMY I found you captivating from the first moment my sisters and I saw you through the window in the snow. That Christmas Day so many years back. --- ## MEG You’re the dreaded Pirate Bartholomew! Sir Hugo! --- ## BETH Oh, Jo. Try to understand. Do you love me? --- ## JO So, so much. I love you so much. --- ## BETH Then I know I haven’t wasted my life --- ### End of Play --- Thank you for coming to this evening’s/this afternoon’s performance. Before you go, we have a favor to ask of you. --- Every year at the holidays, theaters throughout Chicagoland support Season of Concern, which was founded in 1987 to support Chicago theater practitioners living with AIDS-related illnesses. --- Thankfully as the crisis has become more manageable, Season of Concern has been able to expand their services to help theater artists impacted by any health related circumstance that prevents them from working. --- Your donations help local theater professionals when they need it most. Two of our cast members will be standing by the door as you exit. Please consider dropping a donation in the hat. --- One dollar, five dollars, ten dollars…a thousand dollars? Whatever you can afford during this time of giving.