KPFA theatre critic Richard Wolinsky reviews “Little Women,” adapted by Lauren Gunderson, at TheatreWorks Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts through October 12, 2025.

Little Women Review

The classic pre-twentieth century books never die, on stage or on film. A Christmas Carol keeps coming back in December, year after year after year. Maybe the setting is contemporary. Maybe Scrooge is a woman. But the same template carries on and on. Marley. First ghost. Second ghost. Third ghost. Count the beats. Yawn.

There are others. Mr. Darcy and the Bennets. Huck Finn. Dracula. Anna Karenina. Alice and the Rabbit. Frankenstein. And then there’s Little Women by Louisa May Alcott.

There are seven feature length films, eight TV adaptations, two plays, an opera, a ballet, and a Broadway musical. Now there’s Lauren Gunderson’s adaptation of Little Women, at Theatreworks in Mountain View through  October 12th.

Little Women’s ageless popularity rests, as the playwright notes, on its proto-feminism, its focus on family love, and being set during a time of strife and shortages and adds how appropriate it feels in our current times., though of course it also felt appropriate through its previous adaptations. That’s what timelessness is about. And unlike Dickens or Austen, it’s hard to pull out the plot and change time periods or genders. You’re stuck in the Civil War, in New England, and with four specific daughters. Maybe the future will bring us Jo, Meg, Amy and Beth and Zombies, but hopefully not.

In this adaptation, Louisa May Alcott tells the story and illuminates the relationship of her real family to the fictional Marches, with the dialogue and sometimes the book descriptions coming out of the characters’ mouths. It’s a neat touch, and perhaps only possible on stage. But, as with A Christmas Carol, we are still stuck with the same beats. Jo meets Laurie, Beth goes to the big house, Amy burns a manuscript, and so on.

Louisa May Alcott never married, and it’s possible we know why. She’s not attracted to men. This production hints at this through particulars of the performance of Elissa Beth Stebbins as Louisa and Jo,  and by the lack of chemistry with both of Jo’s suitors. Greta Gerwig saw the same issue in the 2019 film, and tackled it by making Jo the author of Little Women and hits the issue dead on. Lauren Gunderson, thugh, approaches it  more obliquely, but without a fuller explanation, the ending feels false. Louisa is Jo, until she’s not.

For the fans who jump at every new adaptation, this Little Women, if redundant, might add a new dimension. For the rest of us, enough is enough.

The post Review: “Little Women” at TheatreWorks Mountain View appeared first on KPFA.

KPFA Theatre Critic Richard Wolinsky reviews “The Motion” by Christopher Chen at Shotgun Players Ashby Stage through October 12, 2025.

TEXT OF REVIEW

​​​​​THE MOTION

With so much news in the world today, and with a CDC corrupted by politics and mentally ill cranks, the subject of animal testing seems to fall by the wayside. But the discussion about using animals to test potential life-saving medicines remains as ongoing as the one that drives many to become vegetarians.

This question about animal rights lies at the beginning of “The Motion” by Christopher Chen, now in a Shotgun Players production at the Ashby Stage through October 12th.

The play presents itself as an on-stage debate./ It’s based on a podcast called Intelligence Squared Debates. So, there are two people on either side of the stage, flanking the moderater. The moderator points out that this is a Shotgun production, in Berkeley at the Ashby Stage.

He then announces the motion to be debated, for and against, should animal testing be banned. All four debaters are presented as academics, the older two, the lead debaters, as doctors, the younger two as professors. The audience will be the jury, voting before the debate starts, and then again afterward, and a winner will be announced, based on the changed votes.

The anti-testing lead debater starts by asking the audience to imagine they are in a cage and then murdered. This is what happens to a rabbit. The pro-testing second debater notes that we are fine killing vermin in a restaurant, and we don’t care if the rats or roaches feel pain. The pro-testing lead then tries to find common ground. Nobody wants an animal to suffer. The anti-testing second thinks common ground is impossible. As in real life, the political of course starts to turn personal, and sparks start to fly.

And that’s the start of The Motion, but only the start.

The playwright Christopher Chen has said he likes to think of his shows at times as magic acts, where you may even come in knowing there will be surprises, but then you end up being delighted by what the surprise actually is.

He goes on. I use a lot of rug pulling in my plays. It’s very fun from a structural perspective, but it’s also very serious and meaningful to me. It’s not meant to be a gotcha moment. I’d say the main journey in all of my plays is a digging process, where a reality is presented and we see below that, and then we see below THAT.

Ultimately, The Motion is sometimes very funny, frequently surprising, sometimes confusing, and always entertaining. And it will resonate in your head for days.

The Motion by Christopher Chen, directed by Patrick Dooley, plays at Shotgun Players Ashby Stage through October 12th. For more information, you can go to Shotgunplayers.org. I’m Richard Wolinsky on Bay Area theatre for KPFA.

The post Review: “The Motion” at Shotgun Players Ashby Stage appeared first on KPFA.

KPFA Theatre Critic Richard Wolinsky reviews “The Reservoir” by Jake Brasch, at Berkeley Rep Peets Theatre through October 12, 2025.

The post Review: “The Reservoir” at Berkeley Rep Peets Theatre appeared first on KPFA.

KPFA Theatre Critic Richard Wolinsky reviews the national touring production of “Shucked” at the BroadwaySF Curran Theatre through October 5, 2025.

The post Review: “Shucked” at the Curran Theatre appeared first on KPFA.

KPFA Theatre Critic Richard Wolinsky reviews “Eureka Day” at Marin Theatre, in partnership with Aurora Theatre, through September 28, 2025.

The post Review: “Eureka Day” at Marin Theatre appeared first on KPFA.

KPFA Theatre Critic Richard Wolinsky reviews “The Return,” a Golden Thread production at the Garret at ACT’s Toni Rembe Theatre through August 24, 2025.

The post Review: “The Return,” at the Garret at ACT’s Toni Rembe Theatre appeared first on KPFA.

Theatre Critic Richard Wolinsky reviews “My Fair Lady” at San Francisco Playhouse through September 13, 2025.

The post Review: “My Fair Lady” at San Francisco Playhouse appeared first on KPFA.

KPFA Theatre Critic Richard Wolinsky reviews the national touring company of “& Juliet” at the BroadwaySF Orpheum Theatre through July 27, 2025.

The post Review: “& Juliet” at the Orpheum appeared first on KPFA.

KPFA Theatre Critic Richard Wolinsky reviews the world premiere of “Aztlan” by Luis Alfaro, at the Magic Theatre through July 13, 2025.

The post Review: “Aztlan” at the Magic Theatre appeared first on KPFA.

KPFA Theatre Critic Richard Wolinsky reviews “Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean,” a new musical, at TheatreWorks Mountain view Center for the Performing Arts through July 13, 2025.

The post Review: “Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean” at TheatreWorks Mountain View appeared first on KPFA.