'Little Women' -- Close-knit family, close-knit actors

Sleeping bags in my grandparents' living room, hot chocolate, my grandma's famous snowballs, and the movie "Little Women."

Those things define the winter season for me. The movie is one of my favorites, and it has been since I was old enough to determine favorites.

At different times I have identified with all four of the sisters, and as my understanding of life has broadened, so has my appreciation for the well-woven story.

Never once have I watched the movie and not felt the urge to jump into the story with the March sisters. And never once was I given the opportunity to do such a thing, until this year.

In August, Eisenhower High School's drama teacher, Janey Peterson, announced the fall play would be "Little Women." I was beside myself. And so were several of my friends who share my familiarity with and love for the March family.

In September, when we read the cast list after two days of auditions, two of my best friends and I discovered we were to be three of the sisters, and another close friend was to play our dear Marmee, the mother of the March sisters.

I play Meg. My friends in the play are Mackenzie Karn (Jo), Laura Fairbrook (Beth) and Nicole Frymier (Marmee). We're all seniors.

The tale is a classic and has been around since the Civil War era. Louisa May Alcott, the author of the novel "Little Women," was one of the first established female writers in this country.

Though set in 1861, the story is one that transcends time. Its strongest point goes beyond Jo's complex personality and eventual discovery of self, a fact I only truly realized by becoming one of these impoverished sisters myself. The real element that makes this a continuously poignant piece is the undeniable strength of family.

In Eisenhower's version of the play (written by Sandra Fenichel Asher), Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy are four sisters ranging in age from 12 to 16, just as they are in the book. They must do a great deal to keep up the house while their father is away at war.

Each girl has a distinct personality. Jo is a tomboy with a knack for writing. Meg is the caring but bossy type. Beth is shy but has a tremendous heart. And Amy is very much the girly younger sister who hates to be left behind.

What one of them lacks, another one makes up for, making them a very close-knit group, indeed. But the thing that really holds them together is their admiration for their parents and their adoration of each other. In the Marches, we find a family that takes care of itself as every family should.

At the same time, they are very real. They are not flawless human beings. The girls peck at one another, and Laurie (the boy living next door) is quite the rambunctious type. They make each other angry, hurt each other's feelings, and get wrapped up in their own affairs.

They are just people with a story to tell, and that story is not a far cry from many of our own.

* Alyssa Patrick is a senior at Eisenhower High School and the student editor of Unleashed, the newspaper's teen journalism program.

If you go

WHAT: "Little Women."

WHO: Presented by the Ike Players.

WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday to Nov. 22.

WHERE: Ike's Little Theatre, 702 S. 40th Ave., Yakima.

HOW MUCH: $5 general admission.

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