By Tabitha Evans Moore
Editor & Publisher
TULLAHOMA, Tenn. — It’s a story of a group of close-knit sisters coming of age during the America Civil War that’s been beloved by readers for decades and beginning on Friday several locals will perform in Little Women, based on the Broadway musical, at the South Jackson Performing Arts Center in Tullahoma.
Lynchburg’s Iris Brown will play the role of Beth and Kaitlyn Rogers (daughter of Metro Council member Gerlad Burnett) will play Meg. Local Mara Karcher also serves as the understudy to the role of Marmee.
Little Women began as a novel by Louisa May Alcott, published in 1868 at the height of the Reconstruction era in America. The story follows the four March sisters — Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy — coming of age during the Civil War. Alcott drew heavily from her own life, especially her relationship with her sisters and her father’s idealism and instability. What set the book apart was its emotional honesty. The girls weren’t perfect. They were ambitious, jealous, artistic, stubborn, tender. For many readers — particularly women — Jo March became one of the earliest literary heroines who dared to want a creative life on her own terms.
The Broadway musical adaptation, Little Women, premiered in 2005 with music by Jason Howland and lyrics by Mindi Dickstein. It translates the interior world of the March sisters into sweeping ballads and ensemble numbers, most notably “Astonishing,” Jo’s emotional declaration of independence. The stage version leans into the tension between duty and dream — family loyalty versus individual ambition — giving performers room for both powerhouse vocals and quiet, character-driven moments.
At its core, Little Women is about growth without losing tenderness. It explores grief, poverty, love, creative hunger, and sisterhood in a way that still resonates — especially in small communities where family, tradition, and expectation carry weight. The story honors domestic life without shrinking female ambition. It insists that artistic longing and ordinary life can coexist. In that way, every community theater production becomes more than nostalgia — it becomes a reminder that becoming who you are is both personal and communal.
Opening night will take place this Friday (February 20) at 7 p.m. and performances will continue Saturday, February 21 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, February 22 at 2:30 p.m. They will also be performance next weekend on Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 2:30 p.m. All performances will take place at the South Jackson Performing Arts Center located at 404 South Jackson Street in Tullahoma. You can buy tickets online by clicking here or call the box office at 931-455-5321. •
About The Lynchburg Times: We’re independent, reader-supported, and proudly homegrown. We hold the history, relationships, and journalistic craft to deliver professional reporting from one of America’s tiniest and most famous towns. Because of that, there are some stories you’ll only read in The Lynchburg Times. Every dollar of reader support stays right here in Moore County, funding local writers, photographers, and storytellers. When you support The Lynchburg Times, you’re not just backing a local newsroom — you’re preserving the art of storytelling in the South. [Join us here.]